SGU: Season 3: On The Other Side
by Sciencefictionsquirrel
Summary: Following "Gauntlet" and SGU's conclusion, I decided to write my take on a continuation of the show, starting with, obviously, the resolution of the scenario at the end of Gauntlet. It starts slow, but it should get better. Spoilery summary inside.
1. Revival

Stargate Universe: Season 3: On The Other Side

Disclaimer: I don't own SGU. If I did, I would have privately funded the show AND bought the airtime from the SyFy bastards to air it.

Summary: At the end of the untimely SGU series finale, Gauntlet, Eli was stuck with two weeks to fix the final pod or die to let the others make the jump. This is my continuation of the show. New enemies, old enemies, old faces, and more are soon to come.

A/N: Also, I apologize if anyone seems out of character. I hope to do better as time goes on.

Chapter 1: Revival

Everett Young woke up with a start as the stasis pod deactivated and the cover slid up. He stepped out and glanced over, watching as Dr. Nicholas Rush woke up, followed by the others. One glance told him all he needed to know. Eli wasn't in the pod, and he wasn't standing around waiting for them. A pang of sadness went through Young as he registered the probable loss of the most brilliant member of the expedition. Rush came to the same conclusion, and shook his head in regret before he walked over to the control panel and began analyzing it.

Chloe looked around, noticing Eli's absence as well. "Where's Eli?" she asked.

Young looked at her. "One of the pods was more damaged than the rest. Rush figured that one person could stay out for two weeks to try and repair it before having to shut off life support and die. Eli volunteered. And, apparently, he didn't make it."

Chloe nodded. "I see." she said, tears welling up in her eyes. Eli was dead. She broke down crying a few moments later, and Camile Wray walked over to comfort her.

"I suppose we should contact Earth. The rest of you, go check things out elsewhere." Young said. Rush nodded in agreement, following him. Before Rush left, he looked at Chloe.

"Chloe, I know it's difficult, but would you please go check out the bridge? We need to know where we are and the ship's status. You're the best qualified here. Besides, it should help to get your mind off things. Besides, Eli's smart. I'm sure he found some way to survive."

Chloe nodded hesitantly. "Okay." she said, choking back sobs and heading out.

The others stood around, staring at each other, unable to really comprehend that Eli was gone, before dispersing to go check out the state of affairs.

* * *

><p>Chloe walked to the bridge, opening the door with a sigh. When she walked in, she stopped in her tracks, seeing a lone, naked figure standing in front of a console, tapping away. The person's hair was over a foot long and hung around his head in a wild mane. Surrounding the person was what seemed to be an army of kinos sporting various attachments, ranging from robotic arms to pistols to other things she couldn't identify. As she entered, the person typed something, and one of the kinos turned to face her, sporting two pistols, one attached to either side of it with tiny grasping arms on the triggers. It stared at her. Chloe tried to ignore it and focus on the figure. "Hello?" she called softly. The person ignored her.<p>

She tried again. "Who are you?"

The person tapped on a remote. A kino hovering next to the person, this one sporting a tin-can hat, rose and turned as well. The person spoke without looking at her, its voice exasperated. "We've been over this before. You are a hallucination, created by my subconscious to preserve what remains of my sanity. And, quite frankly, you aren't helping."

Chloe recognized the voice. "Eli?" she asked tentatively. "You're alive?"

"Of course I'm Eli, and of course I'm alive, Halluci-Chloe. Otherwise, I wouldn't be hallucinating you." he said. ""Now go away. I have to finish preparing things for when the real you and the real others wake up. Speaking of which, where is Halluci-Scott? You two tend to hang out together, after all."

"Oh, God, Eli, we thought you were dead!" she said, running to him and embracing him. Eli stared at her.

"This can't be real. But it feels real." he said. He pressed a button on the remote, and the kino hovering next to him spoke in what was clearly an attempt at Eli impersonating an English accent and using ventriloquism to make it sound like the Kino was talking.

"It's elementary, my dear Eli. This Chloe claims to be real, but how could she be? Barring a malfunction, which is impossible, as we both know you're a bloody genius, those pods should still be shut for another day at least."

Eli scoffed. "No shit, Sherlock. Now, Halluci-Chloe, I have work to do. Go back to wherever you came from and leave me be."

Chloe nodded, wondering what else was wrong with Eli's mind. "Okay, Eli." she said, then turned and left. Before she did so, the gun holding kino that had been watching her moved to follow.

"Let the hallucination go, Hovernator." Eli said, stopping the kino with the push of a button and then speaking through the speakers in another voice, this one an impersonation of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"You aren't Sarah Connor, hallucination. Go. And don't come back." As soon as the doors closed, she picked up her radio and spoke. "Colonel Young, Dr. Rush, this is Chloe. I've found Eli."

Rush was the first to respond. "Is he alive?"

"Yes. I don't know how he survived, but he's on the bridge."

Young asked the next question. "Is he okay?"

"Well, he's standing around naked, talking to kinos and looking like some kind of wildman." she said.

"We're on our way." Young said. "Earth's going to have to wait for an update."

* * *

><p>As the duo headed to the bridge, the radio beeped again. "TJ to Young."<p>

"This is Young. Go ahead, TJ."

"We may have a problem. I've just gone over the revivals. Only our pods deactivated."

"Some kind of malfunction?" Young asked.

Rush shook his head, then reached for his own radio. "Nothing to be worried about, Lieutenant Johansen. Eli and I wrote the program to wake our section up first. We've got another twelve hours before the others wake up to give the senior staff time to get things in order and decide on our next step. Rush out."

Young looked at him. "And why didn't you mention this before we went in?"

"Well, I figured it could be mentioned now." Rush replied. The rest of the journey was in silence.

When they reached the doors leading to the bridge, they noticed that everyone who had woken up had gathered as well, having heard Chloe's explanation.

"So Eli stayed out and risked his own life? Man, that takes guts." Greer said.

"You would have made the same sacrifice, Sergeant." Young said as he walked up.

Greer nodded. "Yes, sir, and I have a lot of respect for anyone who would. I wouldn't have expected it to be Eli, though. That kid never seemed the type."

"The toughest situations always bring out the most in people." Lieutenant Scott said.

"Enough chat. We need to find out how stable Eli is mentally and physically and how he survived." Rush said, opening the door. He walked in, to see Eli standing there, facing him, totally naked. However, it was apparent that this wasn't the same Eli who he'd let stay out of stasis. Eli had trimmed down and was even somewhat muscular.

"Hello, Rush." Eli said. "At least you aren't a hallucination. Or are you? Had we had time to study them, would you have found a way to hijack a drone command ship, or all of them, and use them as an escort fleet for Destiny? Or to destroy everything that happened to get between this ship and completing its mission?"

Rush smiled. "Do you really need to ask that, Eli?"

Eli nodded. "Yep, you're real. I suppose I should get my clothes on, then." he said, then looked at the others. "Are they real?"

"Yes, Eli, they're real. And I would suggest putting some clothes on." Rush said.

"Oh, right . . . sorry. There's not much need for modesty when you're alone with only yourself for company for five years, two weeks, and six days. Should have been an even three weeks, though. We must've been going faster after the recharge than I thought, so we closed on the first gate in the chain faster. Anyways, my clothes are currently in the shuttle, hanging over the window to block out that God-awful FTL view. Funny story how I survived, you know."

"I'm very interested in hearing that." Colonel Young said, then looked at Scott and Greer. "Get the man's clothes." he said, then looked at Eli as the two friends headed off. "Start talking, Eli. And explain why you said five years."

Eli nodded. "Well, I finished the 1700 pages of reading on the stasis pods after the first day. There were solutions, but none that could be implemented with the supplies available or in the time I had left. So, I went through _Destiny_'s cargo manifest and found plenty of survival supplies, most of which were still just fine. The Ancients stored perishables in small stasis chambers, you see, that barely took any power at all, partially due to independent power systems that only used _Destiny_'s main power to recharge once every few thousand years. They aren't even listed in the main systems because they're an independent set-up. So I grabbed what I could, loaded it in the shuttle, found a power generator and a spare recharging plate, and, well, took the two weeks to prepare my living quarters for hopefully just the next three years. Attach the power generator and recharging plate to the shuttle's systems, and voila. I've been living predominantly in what amounts to about a hundred-and-fifty square feet after the shuttle was fully loaded with crates upon crates of supplies. Anything that could possibly be useful, I took with me. I also took a couple of hundred kinos because I expected to be documenting a lot of stuff. I had five years to go through both the Tenaran Archives and the ancient database. That's a lot of information, and I doubted I'd have enough room on my hard drive to hold all the Kino footage. So I decided to take as many as I could. But I'm going to be so happy when we have some real food. I've been eating what are, chronologically speaking, like, eight-million-year-old nutrient bars and drinking, for the most part, recycled water for five years. And we're out of chalk, Rush. I burned through the entire stockpile writing stuff on crates and walls, then memorizing it, cleaning it off, and starting over. I also invented four-person chess, four-person-four-dimensional chess, wrote three novels, more textbooks than I care to imagine, several new TV series, several continuations of cancelled TV series, countless poems and songs, and two Klingon screamo operas. I figured out how to boost the efficiency of the FTL drives, shields, and weapons, along with improving Destiny's power storage abilities. I even figured out how to safely restore Ginn and Amanda Perry to the main systems without any unnecessary risk. Oh, and, as you can see, I worked out. Within the first six months, I was running on only five hours of sleep a night, if that. Anyways, when I started making key modifications to some of the systems, namely life-support and some small semi-permeable force-field generators I wired into the main systems, I blew a power conduit. Power started bleeding out of the jump reserves. I managed to fix that by, well, let's just say ripping out a couple of recharging plates and reconfiguring them to jump energy from one to the other across the gap in the circuit in the form of dangerous, unconstrained lighting bolts jumping from metal spires welded onto each plate in corresponding positions is pretty scary, especially when the wires are live. I am now the master of remote-operating the maintenance bots. Unfortunately, by the time I fixed it, a good amount of power had bled out. That's why it took two extra years. There's more to it, but I'll get to that later. Oh, and Earth doesn't know we're still alive. I didn't use the stones to let them know after the three-year mark had passed because, quite frankly, people on Earth are idiots." he said, his mental state obvious from the stream-of-consciousness narration he gave.

Rush nodded. "Interesting. Now, if you figured out how to safely restore Ginn and Amanda, where are they?"

Eli looked down. "They were in quarantine, right? Well, although I figured out how to restore them to the main systems, the quarantined section can't be accessed from the shuttle. My solution can only be implemented from a main console. And it'll take about twelve hours to get everything ready."

Rush clapped his hands together. "Well, we'd better get started on that, then. Eli, if you'll start setting it up?"

Eli shook his head. "Uh-uh-uh, Rush. We have other priorities, and they don't include either of our sentient-artificially-generated-hallucination-girlfriends. We've already recharged, and now we need to resupply. We should be nearing gate-range of the first gate in the chain shortly. It's a jungle-world, breathable atmosphere, plenty of vegetation, fresh water, and animal life. We'll have about a week on the clock, since I told Destiny we'd need a lot of time to fully resupply. We can improve our collection efficiency by utilizing at least one other kino sled with certain programming modifications, as well as applying those modifications to the first one. We essentially slave-circuit the kinos together. One remote controls the actions of one kino, and those actions are repeated by the others. There is also a large amount of metal and mineral deposits surrounding the gate, which we can use for raw material. I've already reprogrammed the repair robots to be used for mining to collect the materials we need. After that, we can begin implementing the modifications to _Destiny_'s systems that I've devised."

Just then, Young's radio beeped. "Lieutenant Scott to Colonel Young."

"This is Young. Go ahead, Lieutenant."

"We're going to need some time to get to Eli's clothes. There are so many crates and boxes blocking the entrance that we can't see a way through."

Eli beckoned for the radio, and Young gave it to him. He spoke. "Lieutenant Assface, this is Eli. To get through-" he was cut off by Scott's exclamation.

"_WHAT_ did you just call me, Eli?"

Eli paled. "Sorry about that. Forgot I was talking to the real you instead of the hallucination. Anyways, as I was saying, to get through, push the topmost crate of the leftmost visible column as far left as possible. Then push the topmost crate of the column immediately to the right of it into the spot you just vacated. Push the next two vertical boxes in that same column back two spaces, then climb onto the bottom crate. There should be enough clearance between them and the rightmost column to slip through. Navigate the narrow corridor minefield of scattered crates, broken kino remains, nutrient bar wrappers, and random gadgets, gizmos, and widgets between the walls of the crates, and you should reach the cramped living area. My clothes are pinned up over the windows where crates aren't blocking the view."

A few moments later, Scott spoke. "We're through."

Greer spoke. "Damn, Eli, how did you survive in here for five years? And how'd you take a crap?"

"I wasn't just living in there; I used the space suit when I needed to get out of that cramped space. I used the ship's bathroom. The generators I discovered supplied enough power to turn a few systems online, although I kept life support off. I handled that problem in a more inventive way. Now just get my clothes." he said, then clicked the radio off.

Rush looked at him. "Eli, I fail to see why restoring Amanda and Ginn isn't a priority for you. They're the two most brilliant people on this ship beside you or me, and we're going to need their help."

Eli snorted derisively. "Oh, give it up, Rush! We both know you just want to go back to your simulated life with Amanda Perry! You could care less about the mission when she's around! You say that you care about the mission, but you don't! Not when she's around! And not now! Because all you care about is her! You're a pathetic, miserable, self-pitying man who wants his long-lost love! When we found a way to use Langara to set up a supply line that would help us continue the mission, you ran away from your duty to the mission so you could spend some time with the one who got away! Time that was all in your head and that nearly killed you! You can claim you care about the mission, but it's only secondary compared to your love for her! And the only thing above her is your own pathetic skin! If you'd stayed out, you would have pushed the deadline and doomed us to drifting for hundreds or thousands of years at best, dying at worst just for a few more days to find a solution to a problem that you couldn't fix in a million years! Don't forget that the woman I love is in there as well! I'd love to bring her out, but the long-term survival we'd need them for hinges on our immediate survival, which we can manage without them! And they've been out of commission for five years. Another few days won't hurt! But you aren't thinking rationally! All you can think about is that you can have your lover back! I'm smarter than you, Rush, and we both know it! I'm not the fucking protegee anymore! I should be in charge of the scientists, not you! The student has surpassed the master! Accept it! Shut up, shove your self pity back up your ass where it belongs, and do what I tell you to!" he yelled, climbing up to the raised entranced platform and getting right up in Rush's face as he did so. "I found a way to survive without fixing the pod, but you wouldn't have. You would have pushed the deadline to try and fix an irreparable pod because you can't accept failure and there was no guarantee another method would have worked! You would have condemned us to save your own miserable skin! Now, I'm the one calling the shots! Amanda Perry and Ginn will be brought back online when _I_ say so, and not before! Am I clear, Mr. God-Complex? Am I fucking clear, Mister I-Think-I'm-Jesus-Fucking-Christ-Because-I'm-A-Megalo-Fucking-Maniac?" he yelled, then took a breath. Rush started to recover from his shock and was about to retaliate when Eli continued. "Shut up and do as I tell you, Rush. If I ever hear you trying to undermine me again, I swear, I will fucking kill you. I will take a gun, put it to your miserable little head, and empty the magazine into your miserable fucking skull." This final threat/statement was said in a calm, collected, cold voice, and the look in Eli's eyes said he was serious.

Rush recovered enough to speak and try to reason with him. "You don't know what you're saying, Eli. You aren't in your right mind. The five years of isolation have affected your mind. You don't mean that. You'll regret it when you've recovered. Now, stop this nonsense and help me bring Ginn and Amanda out of quarantine so they can help."

In a flash, Eli had grabbed Colonel Young's sidearm from its holster, taken the safety off, cocked it, and pressed the barrel against Rush's forehead. His finger tightened around the trigger. "Don't fucking tempt me, Rush!" he snarled.

Colonel Young's first instinct was to try and wrestle the gun from Eli, but he knew that antagonizing an agitated, slightly-psychotic self-made hermit with a gun would only end badly. He also knew Eli could at least kill Rush before the aging colonel could get the gun from him. So he decided to reason with Eli, holding everyone else back with a look. "Everyone, just take a step back. Let me handle this. Why don't you go look around? Look, Eli, you don't want to do this. I'll admit, he probably deserves it, but we need him. Almost as much as we need you. You aren't a killer, Eli, and if you pull that trigger, you'll regret it for the rest of your life. Just put the gun down and we can talk this out."

Eli nodded. "Fine. He lives. But I call the shots on everything science-related from now on. I'm the better choice. We all know it. And we also all know that Rush will go right back into the simulation if I bring Amanda out. So here's the deal: We resupply at the planet, and then I bring Ginn and Amanda out, but keep my hand on the 'delete' button for Amanda's program. If Rush refuses to listen to me, I delete her. Is that clear, Rush? This is a hostage situation. You want Amanda to live, you follow my orders."

"You've gone mad." Rush spat.

Eli nodded. "I'm sure we all know that. You'd be, too, if you'd spent five years mostly confined with only yourself for company." he said, then lowered the gun, popped the bullet in the chamber out, put the safety on, and offered it to Colonel Young. Young took it, then looked at them.

"Would you two care to join me in reporting back to Earth? Once Eli has his clothes, of course."

Rush shook his head. "I don't have the time, and I doubt Eli does, either. We've got a lot of work to do. We have to go over systems reports, start prioritizing repairs, begin working on getting this ship functional again . . ."

Eli shook his head. "I already took care of all that, Rush. Why do you think I was on the bridge? Of course, I haven't begun any serious hardware repairs as I didn't have that kind of manpower."

Rush nodded. "Very well, then. I suppose we could spare the time to report in."

"And to have a psychological evaluation done, if that's okay with you, Eli?"

Eli nodded. "Sure."

A few minutes later, Scott and Greer returned with Eli's clothes. He got dressed quickly, but it was obvious that the clothes no longer fit him well due to having gotten in shape. However, they would do for now. The trio headed to the communications lab they'd set up when they first arrived, with Scott and Greer tagging along to operate the system and brief whoever the trio switched with.

Scott activated the system, and the trio looked at each other before placing their stones on the panel.

They looked around, disoriented at first. An airman standing by the door noticed, and walked over. Colonel Young smiled, then spoke. "I'm Colonel Young. This is Doctor Rush and Eli Wallace. Could we speak to General O'Neill and Colonel Telford?" he said, looking at the other two for confirmation on which one was which.

The airman nodded. "Of course. They've been expecting you ever since the three-year mark passed. I'll let them know you've arrived. And, I know you've been out of touch for five years, so I'll give you fair warning: it's General Telford now. If you'll please follow me to the waiting room, sir?"

The trio followed him into the waiting room and sat down. The airman went to inform the two generals of the arrival of the first visitors from_Destiny_ in five years.

A few minutes later, they were called in. Jack O'Neill and David Telford smiled as they entered. Young returned the smile.

Jack spoke first. "So . . . have a good nap?" he asked.

Young nodded. "Good enough. And congratulations on the promotion, General Telford."

Telford spoke. "Thank you, Everett. Now, I think we have a lot to talk about. It's been a long five years, and the news varies between good, bad, and worse."


	2. Catching Up

Stargate Universe: Season 3: On The Other Side

Disclaimer: I don't own SGU. If I did, I would have privately funded the show AND bought the airtime from the SyFy bastards to air it.

A/N: Also, I have edited chapter 1 to better suit some of the ideas I have for this story. Nothing big, just a few minor adjustments to the content and timeframe. I added two years to their trip, bringing it up to five years overall.

Chapter 2: Catching Up

After explaining the situation regarding Eli to General Telford and General O'Neill, O'Neill made a few calls and had a psychologist come in to evaluate Eli. They went off to a room somewhere to run the tests, letting the others tend to business.

Telford looked at them. "As you know, we have been attempting to convince the Langarans to let us use their planet as a supply line to Destiny, as has the Lucian Alliance. As we promised, we protected them when the Alliance made their move approximately two years ago. We managed to fend off their attack, but lost the _Apollo_ in the process. The Alliance found a way to upgrade their weapons, making them strong enough to cause noteworthy damage to our ships. But their numbers were what really made it so hard. We suspect as much as ninety percent of the Lucian Alliance's ships were employed. The _Apollo_ was taking heavy damage and its shields were failing. When it became clear they couldn't win, the Lucian Alliance fired several naquadria missiles at Langara, determined that, if they couldn't have it, we couldn't, either. The _Apollo_ used itself as a shield to intercept the majority of the missiles, sacrificing itself to do so. The _Odyssey_ did the same, although it survived. The rest of our ships managed to pick off the remainder. In return for our assistance in that battle and willingness to sacrifice ourselves, coupled with giving the Langarans one of our newly-completed 304s, the Langarans agreed to go over McKay's solution and, if they were satisfied it was safe, they would allow us to dial once as a practical test. But they had conditions. If the Lucian Alliance chose to make another attempt, we had to have every available ship guarding the planet to make sure that the hypothetical attack did not affect the planet. We also had to help them evacuate pretty much the entire planet just prior to the attempt. We agreed. They went over the data, and they've found it to be . . . satisfactory. However, that plan was sidetracked by a more pressing matter. The Replicators are back, Everett, and they've been trying to wipe us out."

The look on Rush and Young's faces was one of total shock. "That's impossible. SG-1 and Ba'al destroyed the Replicators with the Dakara device!" Rush protested. Telford shook his head, but O'Neill beat him to the punch as far as replying.

"So did I. Imagine my surprise when they started attacking.

"What they failed to take into consideration was that there could be Replicators in deep space, outside the range of the Stargate-projected energy wave. At least one ship must have survived. They appear to have been biding their time, building up their forces. Eighteen months ago, they struck a world we were working on establishing trade with. They've been putting pressure on our forces. We've been pursuing diplomacy with, among others, the Lucian Alliance and the followers of the Ori."

Young looked surprised. "You're trying to negotiate with the Ori's followers?"

"Their Priors still have their abilities and can still control the motherships, Everett. Besides, they were deceived into the crusade. They were as much victims as we were. As I was saying, we have been negotiating with them and the Lucian Alliance. So far, we've had only limited success. We've offered to outfit their ships temporarily with Asgard weapons and shields, under strict supervision by Earth representatives. The followers agree that those conditions are reasonable. The Lucian Alliance, however, has been adamant that the weapons be given to them permanently and without supervision. As you can imagine, we can't allow that."

"Of course not, because they'd turn the weapons on us as soon as the conflict with the Replicators ended." Rush said.

"Exactly. In addition to attempting to build up alliances, development has begun on a newer, more powerful starship, the BC-305 'Legacy-Class,' built using primarily Ancient and Asgard systems. It promises to be an incredibly useful ship. Its power sources are part of that. You see, during your absence, we have found a hidden facility on Atlantis. A Z.P.M. manufacturing facility, hidden using a phase-shifting wall and using what Dr. McKay has explained as a 'dimensionally transcendental matrix.' His comparison was to the TARDIS from the show Doctor Who. Larger on the inside than the outside. We have begun manufacturing our own Z.P.M.s. This, coupled with a modified, less-uncontrollable version of the subspace capacitor and energy tap discovered by Atlantis on the alternate _Daedalus_ several years ago, opens up a tremendous potential for power-consuming systems to be used with relative impunity. Its primary weapons will include Asgard plasma beam weapons, missiles, point-defense railguns, and a nearly-infinite supply of Ancient drone weapons, created by scanning one into the Asgard core and utilizing the Asgard matter-energy replication system, which has been copied into the ship's primary systems, to generate a continuous supply. But, I think you'll find the final system to be the most interesting. The wormhole drive. Doctors Zelenka and McKay and Colonel Carter have been working on improving and adapting the design to be compatible with our ships. When it's finished-"

Rush cut him off. "You can send the ship back-and-forth almost instantaneously between Earth and _Destiny_. A two-way supply line that doesn't require an Icarus-type planet, such as Langara. If you apply the drive systems to other ships, you could enable an entire support fleet to transit to _Destiny_ with only a few minutes warning. How long until it's completed?"

"Two years, minimum. Longer if we can't work out the kinks in the system or this conflict drags out. The wormhole drive is an optional system, which has been giving us considerable difficulties, and, if we have to leave it incomplete to get the ship off the line quicker, we will."

"Perhaps you could arrange for Colonel Carter and Doctors McKay and Zelenka to visit _Destiny_ and work with myself, Mr. Wallace, Doctor Perry, and Ginn to perhaps accelerate the process. If nothing else, it might cut time off the completion of the modifications to the drive." Rush said.

"I'll see what I can arrange." Telford said. "Now, how are things looking for you? And why did it take two extra years."

"We're doing okay. According to Eli, we're going to be in range of a planet that we can use to repair and resupply. We're fully charged on power, as Eli directed _Destiny_ to refuel in a star as soon as we arrived in the new galaxy, before we even neared the first gate in the chain. We're actually still outside dialing range, though just barely. We'll keep you appraised. So far, only the seven of us in the last section of pods have been woken up, with the others due to do so in a few hours, just in time to start resupplying."

"It's good to know that at least some of us don't have any bad news. "

"Not yet, anyways." Rush replied. "Not yet."

"And hopefully not for a while." Young added.

Telford nodded. "Hopefully. Now, if there's nothing else, the IOA is waiting for an update from Camile. Eli's evaluation should take a while, so we'll meet again when we know the results. In the meantime, you two should probably return to _Destiny_. Report back as soon as you have a more detailed report to make."

"We will, General Telford." Young said, getting up and preparing to head out. O'Neill's voice stopped him.

"Be careful out there, Colonel. When we find a way to get you home, I look forward to personally shaking the hand of everyone on that rust bucket and welcoming you all back to Earth." he said.

"We will, General O'Neill. We will."

* * *

><p>When Young and Rush returned to Destiny, they noticed that Camile was in the room, talking to whoever had switched with Eli. She looked at them, recognizing by their disorientation that they had returned. She was frowning as she spoke to them. "Colonel Young, I assume you and Doctor Rush have heard?"<p>

Young nodded. "The Replicators are back, and Earth is in a tight spot with regards to that conflict."

"The question is, do we tell the crew that there might not be an Earth to go back to if we ever find a way back?" Camile asked.

Surprisingly, it was Rush who answered. "Of course we tell them. They'll find out anyways as soon as they visit Earth again. They should hear it from us. They deserve to know what's happened."

"I know. I'm just worried about the effect on morale. News that one of the most dangerous, adaptable enemies that Earth has ever faced is back could prove too much for some."

Rush shook his head. "There will be an Earth to go back to, Camile. I'm sure of it. The best people on Earth are, well, on Earth, doing everything they can. And you have to remember that the one thing that drives humanity more than self-preservation is preservation of the species. The Replicators may wreak chaos and havoc across the galaxy, but humanity will survive. They will find a way."

Young decided to break up the conversation. "The IOA is waiting to hear back from you, Camile. You should probably check in with them."

Camile nodded."I assume you'll brief whoever I switch with if they're an IOA representative?"

"Well, Scott and Greer will, unless the person specifically requests to speak with me. I'm going to go supervise getting everything back in order. Doctor Rush will probably want to go off and do his own thing."

Camile smiled. "Good idea, Colonel." she said.

* * *

><p>A few hours later, Colonel Young and Doctor Rush had come to the conclusion that, for some reason, Eli had locked out all the ship's main systems from every console with an encryption code that Rush had had no luck cracking. In addition, several sections of the ship had been sealed off, including the garden, hydroponics, engine room, and others. Apparently, there were things Eli didn't want them knowing.<p>

Young's radio crackled as he and Rush left Eli's room, which they had hoped would have an unsecured panel they could use to work-around the block, to no avail, and headed toward the communications lab to pull Eli out and ask him about it. "Chloe to Young."

"This is Young. Go ahead, Chloe."

"Colonel, I decided to head to that area of the ship where we'd been writing all of those equations and stuff on the walls, and, well, yourself and Rush might both want to come down here and see this."

Young sighed. "On our way, Chloe." he said, then clicked the radio off and looked at Rush. "I wonder what else Eli was up to besides what he said he was." he commented, heading for the hallway in question.

When they arrived, they saw Chloe staring at a large section of wall that hadn't been covered with writing when they went into stasis, but which was now covered with writing, a combination of equations, captions, footnotes, and diagrams, most in the white of chalk, but a considerable amount was in a shade of brownish-red ink that Young recognized almost immediately, having seen it many times on and off the battlefield. "He ran out of chalk, so he used his own blood." he said grimly. "Cut himself open when he needed to work, or to touch-up what had already been put here."

Rush nodded. "A few cuts are a small price to pay for advancing a cause. What is all of this, Chloe? Can you tell?"

Chloe nodded yes, then shook her head no. "I . . . I recognize some of it. This section here," she pointed, "this is the program that controls the electromagnetic fields of the power collectors, which, if I remember correctly from when Eli explained it to me, are Bussard ramscoop hydrogen collectors to fuel fusion reactors. The bit right next to it is a series of weapons calibrations and firing solutions. And this bit here," she pointed again, "this is a modified version of Eli and Ginn's original dialing solution for dialing from inside a star. The rest of it seems to be . . . I think it seems to be . . . related to the Stargate and how electromagnetic fields, I think specifically those of solar flares, affect the wormhole. But I don't see why Eli would correlate all of this like he has. Especially when there are similar ramscoop-control-program variations over there that are completely unrelated." She said, gesturing.

Rush paled. "He's insane. _This_ is insane. What could have compelled him to even _think_ he could manage such a feat?" he said incredulously.

Young looked at him, confused. "What is it, Rush. Do you know what all this means?"

"I believe I do, Colonel, and, for once, I pray I'm wrong." Rush said, beginning to look like a man who had seen a ghost.

"Well, what is it, then?"

"Colonel Young, if I understand this, Eli was attempting to find a way to not only make dialing the ninth chevron from inside a star feasible with virtually no damage to the ship, but also to, in the same action, _deliberately_ temporally duplicate the ship by controlling and, in fact, _triggering_ solar flares."

"In English, Rush?" Young said, more out of hope that his understanding of science was faulty and had led him to misunderstand Rush.

"Can't you see, Colonel? Eli tried to take advantage of the same circumstances that allowed us to double our supplies and that created the entire civilization on Novus by finding a way to control those same circumstances with a level of safety that would allow the duplicate of the ship that went through the star to survive entirely intact, including the engines. We could again double our supplies, with a few additional perks."

Chloe caught on, paling in turn at the implications. "Even allow us to rip the most efficient and least-damaged FTL drive units out of the duplicate and replace our least efficient and most-damaged units using the maintenance robots. Four at a time, if we used the four robots we'd have after one duplication. More than that, even, depending on how many times you do it . . ."

"Exactly. But it's insanity. You can't hope to control those kinds of conditions with the accuracy you'd require. It could very well destroy the ship if even on variable was off. And then there's the issue of ourselves, or the temporal duplicates, anyways. What would we do with them? I assume the duplicated Destiny would be completely gutted for supplies. Kill them? Leave them on some godforsaken planet?"

Young's jaw dropped. "Eli would never do that. Eli would never even think about _risking_ that without people around to check his work." he said, the enormity of exactly what Eli seemed to have considered doing sinking in.

"Not the Eli we knew, but the Eli who has been completely alone for five years on this ship was holding a gun to my head not more than five hours ago, Colonel. I believe it's safe to say that, in his current state, Eli may very well have done more than just _think_ about it." Rush said grimly.

Chloe shook her head. "Eli wouldn't have killed them . . . us . . . them." she said firmly, her certainty absolute.

"Well, we'll have to ask him when he gets back." Rush replied.

"So, you figured it out." A voice said. The trio turned to stare as Eli walked in. He grinned. "I was wondering when one of you was going to wander down here and start piecing it together."

"Eli, please tell me you didn't actually do this." Rush said.

"I didn't. Not yet, anyways. I've just run several hundred simulations regarding it. I wanted to get your thoughts on it. And I already worked out the details. We resupply, then duplicate the ship in a star with a habitable planet in orbit, and, when that's done, disable both FTL drives so we can replace our drive units with ample time to spare. We strip out everything from the other _Destiny_ except for a bare minimum to keep it spaceworthy for a while, and then, well, we land it. Use the shuttles to transfer the final components, save for just enough to keep very basic systems on in the alternate _Destiny_, like heaters, air-conditioners, minimal shields and maybe a weapons turret or two. They can use Destiny as a shelter until they can make their own, then use it as a springboard to get advanced technology later down the line. We create a second Novus, a second stronghold of humanity out here. Or, barring that, we use the program I've developed to dial inside a star and take advantage of the available power to send the wormhole intergalactic after we've duplicated _Destiny_ and send the duplicate crew back to the planet we dropped the Novus refugees off. We could even trigger a solar flare and traverse time, so the alternates arrive at about the same time as the evacuation ships. I already wrote the program for that possibility, along with the program to send the ship back in time. We can do it as many times as we want, seeding planets along our path with alternate _Destiny_ crews, creating bastions of humanity out here in the far reaches of the universe. Actually, we don't even need to do that; once I make sure the ship can do it on its own, we can gate to a nearby planet, wait for the ship to do its thing, then gate to and gut the duplicate. We can then do whatever we want to the duplicate, be it crashing it on a planet or giving it a Viking funeral in a star."

Rush was surprised. "I'm impressed, Eli. You've put a great deal of thought into this, so I assume the equations didn't just pop into your head one day. How long have you been working on this?"

Eli smirked. "Since shortly after you guys went into stasis. Although it got tricky. I wasn't sure how some of the programs worked or if they could work how I wanted, so I consulted the Ancient database. Thankfully, the Ancients understood even back then that solar flares affected gate travel. There were several hundred pages worth on that topic, and how they'd attempted to understand it."

Rush looked confused. "Eli, there was nothing about that in the database. Not a page."

Eli smirked. "Not in the _main_ database." he said cryptically.

It dawned on Rush just how far Eli had gone to make this insane idea, and most likely all his other projects as well, a possibility. "You used the chair, didn't you? Programmed it to pump the knowledge you needed right into your mind, right? Probably wrote a simulation that would make it easier for your mind to comprehend?"

Eli nodded. "Yes, yes, and yes. Surprisingly, it didn't take that much power. I just needed to use one of the generators I discovered, and I didn't even have to set it to the equivalent of a controlled partial meltdown, and it only used half the relatively small fuel tank."

Something had been eating at Rush about Eli's story, and it finally broke out. "Eli, you've been mentioning these generators a lot. What are they? How do they work?"

Eli glanced at him. "Fusion, Rush. Just like the ship's power. They fuse hydrogen collected from stars and even the emptiness of space. There are entire storage tanks specifically as reserves for the portable generators. Honestly, if we'd known about them before we went into stasis, hooked them into the ship's systems, and set them to maximum output, we could have had enough power to handle every command ship in that galaxy, or at least enough to destroy the ones around planets and stars we needed. We never would have needed to skip it."

Rush looked like he was going to have a heart attack. "You mean we spent five years in stasis that we never needed to? Five years that could have been spent furthering the mission, not skipping what could be a vital piece of the puzzle! Why didn't you wake us up, Eli?"

Eli sighed. "Because, Rush, I was able to get a lot of stuff done in these five years without anyone bugging me. I made a judgement call that the extra years would be beneficial to us in the , I've already programmed Destiny to head back to that galaxy in a thousand years or so, when we'll be long-gone, so your precious-but-not-as-precious-as-Doctor-Perry mission can continue! In fact, if you want, I can stick you in stasis again so you can be there when it backtracks! You'd love that, wouldn't you?"

Rush sighed in turn. "Can we please drop that, Eli? Doctor Perry is important to me, as important as Ginn is to you. Also, could you please unlock _Destiny_'s systems and unseal the rest of the ship so we can perform a proper evaluation?"

Eli nodded. "Sure, but there are some things I need to do first. Have everyone meet me outside the garden dome in an hour."

Young nodded. "Will do, Eli. But, first, I need to check in with Earth about your condition and report the possibility you came up with of adding to our supplies."

"You do that, I'll do my thing, and Rush and Chloe can go over my work." Eli replied.

* * *

><p>Rush opened his mouth to protest, but Eli shot him a withering look, doing the whole 'hand-cutting-across-neck' thing in the process, reminding the older scientist of his threat to delete Amanda's program. Rush wisely closed his mouth and nodded. "If Miss Armstrong is up for that, of course." he said.<p>

Chloe nodded. "Sure." she replied.

The group split up. Eli to do his thing, Young to report to Earth, and Chloe and Rush stayed where they were.

When Young reached the communications lab, he saw that Camile, Scott, Greer, and TJ were sitting around talking. He smiled. "What's the topic of the day?" he asked.

"Eli's busted mind, the war with the Replicators, and wondering how everyone back on Earth is going to handle the fact that we were gone for two extra years, sir." Greer said promptly.

Young smiled wider. "Well, I'm going to be switching with someone back on Earth to get an update, so I'd appreciate it if you took things seriously while I'm gone." he said, then, after getting confirmation that they would, touched one of the stones.

* * *

><p>Young blinked, then looked around. He noticed the same psychologist who had evaluated Eli standing by the door. The man smiled, then approached. "Colonel Young, I presume?" he asked. Young nodded.<p>

The man extended a hand. "Doctor Marcus Williams. I understand that you want to know the state Mr. Wallace is in mentally?"

Young nodded, taking the hand and shaking it. "I'd appreciate that very much."

Doctor Williams nodded. "Well, I'm happy to say that Eli is not, strictly speaking, irreversibly mentally disturbed. The symptoms he is exhibiting are consistent with those of prolonged social isolation, compounded by the fact that the isolation was in a relatively small, relatively static, enclosed environment. He should recover fairly quickly, now that he is back in a social environment. However, there are steps which can be taken to ease his transition. Do not force him to engage in social interactions, but encourage it. Try to facilitate that interaction. His subconscious should welcome the interaction with normal people and steer him towards that interaction. I can't say for sure how long it will take for him to fully re-acclimate to the social environment, but it should not be more than a few months, at most, although some symptoms and quirks he has developed over the years may last for significantly longer amounts of time."

Young nodded. "Thank you." he said.

"I advise you let everyone else onboard _Destiny_ know as well so as to make things easier for him." Dr. Williams said.

Young nodded again. "I will. Is that everything?"

"I believe so, Colonel."

Young nodded, then switched back.


	3. The Gifts of Eli

Stargate Universe: Season 3: On The Other Side

Disclaimer: I don't own SGU. If I did, I would have privately funded the show AND bought the airtime from the SyFy bastards to air it.

A/N: I will continue to update semi-regularly regardless of reviews, but I do appreciate them. They let me know that this story is worth the time I put into it and/or help me make it better so that you can continue to read and be entertained. So please, read and review. Also, I wold like feedback on the idea I introduced in the last chapter, regarding the idea of using Crazy Eli's crazy idea to attempt to control a star to get the desired temporal duplication. I'm still debating what the outcome of the vote it will be put to later will be. You, the readers and reviewers, can influence that decision.

Chapter 3: The Gifts of Eli

The business Eli had to attend to was simple. During the five years he'd been awake while the others slept, he had been working on gifts for them when they woke up. He had to get those together. Specifically, he had to move them to the Garden so that they could be there when everyone else showed up. The gifts were only for a few people, though, just those who he felt closest to. And one of those people was still asleep. He wanted to wake her up so she could receive her gift with the others. After moving the gifts into the garden covertly, which took about half an hour to make sure no one was tracking him, he went to the stasis chamber room where Doctor Lisa Park was housed. He tapped in the deactivation command for her pod, then walked over and greeted her as she came out.

"Doctor Park, welcome back to the world of the living." he said.

She smiled. "Eli, good to hear you from you again. Are the others with you?" she asked, gingerly stepping out of the pod. Eli reached out and took her arm to guide her.

"Most of the others are still asleep. Just the last section of pods has woken up so far. And you. You see, long story short, one of the pods was more damaged than the others. I volunteered to stay out and try to fix it. I couldn't, but I found a way to survive long enough to see the rest of you wake up. Although the trip took an extra two years because I made a mistake, but at least it was only an extra two years and not a thousand or more. We're in the year 2015. Anyways, I made a lot of progress with all sorts of things, and there's something I want you to . . . well, to experience, anyways, since sight isn't exactly your strong point at the moment." he said.

Her smile widened. "What is it, Eli?"

"Can't tell you. It's a surprise, just like it'll be for the others." he said. "Now, let's go meet up with the others. You can catch up with them while I've got some final preparations to make." he said, guiding her out of the room. He quickly radioed Young to get an idea of where everyone was, then guided Lisa toward the communications lab. He dropped her off there, much to the confusion of the others, and then wandered off again to go finalize the last few details, which mainly had to do with organization.

* * *

><p>When the time came for the group of eight to go to the garden dome, there was an air of anticipation. Lisa had mentioned that Eli had told her there was something waiting for them there. Eli was standing in front of the entrance, with a banner covering the area of the bulkhead above the door leading into the dome, and a few of his customized kinos floating around. He smiled. "Okay, I've had five years to think about this, and I figured you guys would appreciate some kind of, well, reward for giving up five years while you slept. So, without further ado, I would like to present Doctor Lisa Park with her gift, the culmination something she almost died for. Ladies, and gentlemen, I welcome you to the dedication ceremony for the 'Lisa Park Garden.'" he said, then reached up and yanked down the banner, revealing that he had used a cutting torch to carve the words 'Lisa Park Garden' into the bulkhead. "Sergeant Greer, if you would please escort the guest of honor forward, help her feel the words carved into the bulkhead."<p>

Amid the gasps of surprise and smiles of approval from the others, Greer had other ideas about Eli's suggestion. Dr. Park had smiled and was blushing after hearing what Eli had said. Greer pointed her in the right direction and gently nudged her toward Eli. She ran forward and almost glomped him, wrapping him in a hug and very nearly squeezing him to death. You could hear Eli's back pop. "Thank you, Eli." she said, clearly deeply touched by Eli's actions.

A few moments later, with no sign of her letting go, Eli spoke. "Umm, Lisa, you're kind of suffocating me." he said, gently trying to detach her. She blushed, embarrassed, then let go.

"Sorry." she mumbled. Eli smiled, then shook his head.

"Nothing to be sorry for. I was expecting something like that." he said, then hit the door panel and walked inside. "Follow me." he said. The others did so, wondering what was awaiting them. When they walked in, the gasps filled the air again. The garden was filled practically to bursting with thriving plants "This is how I managed to deal without life support. Use the suit to get to the hallway, activate a force-field, pump the air out, open the door to the garden, walk in, take the suit off, breathe deeply, then inspect plants. Harvest fruits, veggies, beans, and other stuff, see if the new hybrids I've developed are doing well, check oxygen levels, adjust CO2 input, which I figured out how to reroute from the vents in the gateroom, test for medicinal and other properties, catalog them in the ship's computer, look up at the annoying FTL stream simply to remind myself that the ship isn't the only thing in the universe. Then, once finished, put suit on, remotely engage forcefield airlock, pump air out, put suit helmet on, open door, walk out, depressurize makeshift airlock, shut down forcefield. At least, that was at first. Once the plants were doing well, I established an entire corridor of self-contained life-support between here and the now-overgrown hydroponics lab, then between here, the hydroponics lab, and the observation deck, just because I needed more space. Then the corridors around the observation deck were filled because I had more plants than I knew what to do with. Plants provide oxygen, I pump CO2 in, and it barely uses any power at all. Now, I've got some more gifts for everyone. Follow me." he said, venturing into the garden. The others followed him, exchanging confused glances.

Young brought up a good question. "Eli, how did you manage to restart all of this and expand it so massively in only a few years? It seems hard to believe."

Eli smirked. "I told you I found a lot of perishables in low-power stasis units, right? Well, I also found seeds. Of all kinds. Planted those, started growing them, and we were in business. Anyways, like I said, there are some gifts for the rest of you." he said, going over to a bench with a crate filled with several items on it. He pulled one out. "First up, Ronald Greer. I know you had concerns about our bullet supply, so I'm honored to present you with the first batch of bullets made on Destiny." he said, handing Greer the magazine of bullets. Greer pulled one out and looked at it.

"This is really cool, Eli. What did you use for the propellant?" he asked.

"I managed to whip up some nitrocellulose-based smokeless powder. I built the gear to machine the bullets, as well, although it's currently a pretty slow process. Once I can fully automate it, we can make several magazines worth of bullets a day, as long as we have the necessary raw materials." he said. Greer smiled.

"Thanks, Eli." he said.

Eli picked up the next gift, a cloth bag, and offered it to Rush. "Take a look inside, crazy uncle." he said.

Rush opened it, and pulled out a long white paper cylinder filled with some kind of herbal substance. He looked at Eli for confirmation of what he thought it was.

Eli smiled. "Cigarettes. Home-grown tobacco-like-plant rolled in home-made paper. I understand if you don't want to smoke them, since you quit, but . . ." he trailed off when he saw that Rush had already pulled out the home-made lighter in the bag and was in the process of lighting the cigarette, inhaling deeply.

Rush looked at him when he noticed Eli had trailed off. "I'm sorry, did you say something?" the older scientist asked.

TJ groaned, then looked at Eli. "Great. Now I'm going to have to check for compatible donors for a lung transplant in a few years." she muttered.

Eli ignored the comment, instead picking up the next item. "Camile, I know you had been wanting another outfit, as has pretty much everyone else on this ship, so I might as well just say it. Ladies and gentlemen, behold the first clothing product of my textile mill. One-hundred-percent pure cotton-like-plant-substitute. A shirt for Ms. Wray. I got your measurements from an occupant-diagnostic in the pods. Converted the units of measure from Ancient units into English inches, and the rest is history." he said.

Camile took it, smiling warmly. "Thank you, Eli." she said.

Eli nodded. "You're welcome." he said, then pulled out the next gift. "Okay, I was a little unsure what to get you, Chloe, but I decided to fall back on a basic accessory item that all girls at least appreciate." he said, holding out what looked like a modified shell casing for a bullet. He popped the top off, revealing it to be a tube of red lipstick.

"I hope you like it." he said, handing it to her, along with what resembled a mirror.

Chloe smiled. "Thank you, Eli." she said. "It's fine."

Eli smiled. "You're welcome." he said, then pulled out a pouch and offered it to Lieutenant Scott. "Well, I couldn't think of anything specific that you wanted, so I decided to improvise. I hope you enjoy these." he said.

Scott opened the pouch, revealing a bunch of smaller, flat bags, seemingly made out of plastic and sealed. He opened one and his jaw dropped. "Eli, are these . . . are these _condoms_?"

Eli grinned, then nodded smugly. "Pain in the ass to make." he said.

The others stared, and then Chloe broke the silence, giggling at first, and then full-on laughing. The others soon followed, and Eli's grin widened. "I knew you guys would get a kick out of that." he said, then reached into the crate and pulled out the next gift.

"This one's for you, TJ. I know you've been through a lot since we arrived here, and it may seem difficult at times, with everything life throws at you, and that it might be hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I wanted to make sure you knew that there's still hope. I'm not as far along as I would have liked, but I'm almost there. I'm close, TJ. Close to developing a viable treatment for ALS. You have no idea how many options I explored before settling on this one. Gene therapy. I remember hearing about Atlantis and how they used that a lot, ranging from developing a retrovirus to give people that Ancient technology gene to one that transmutes a specific species of alien into humans. I'd like to talk to the people behind those, because we might be able to make this work. This is just a rough proof, an experiment. Just to see if I could do it with what's available on this ship. And I can. The base retrovirus I used in this batch is still active and dangerous, but I managed to splice a copy of a gene into it, and observed that it did, in fact, deliver the gene to the target area in cells I cultured before the retrovirus destroyed the cell culture. There's hope, TJ." he said, handing her the vial before picking up his kino remote and speaking into it in the English accent he used. His voice came out of the kino he had dubbed Sherlock.

"It's elementary, my dear Ms. Johansen. Quite literally. The base components of a human being's very existence can be altered with the proper equipment. The Ancients understood this, even hundreds of thousands of years before they worked on Ascension. So the included certain materials onboard which could be used for such a purpose." he said, then switch to his normal voice.

"Shut up, Sherlock. Go make sure the rest of the pods are doing okay." he said, pressing a button and the kino flew off.

TJ smiled. "Thank you, Eli. Thank you so much." she said, her eyes glistening with tears that she didn't want to release. Eli embraced her and smiled.

"You're welcome, TJ." Eli said, then looked at Colonel Young. "I didn't know what to get you, but I remembered that you liked your alcohol. Here you go." he said, pulling out a glass bottle with a stopper and handing it to the Colonel.

"Rum. Aged four years. Just one of many different varieties of inebriating drinks I've created." he said. "Brody's Bar is going to have a much greater variety available to it now. Did you know that making a simple glass bottle with no experience is more difficult than cobbling together a test-phase retrovirus with help from a database?"

Young smiled, taking the bottle. "What kind of rum?" he mused.

"Personally, I think that particular recipe tastes like coconut." Eli replied. "Or as close as you get out here in the far reaches of the universe."

He then looked at Dr. Park again. "I'm sorry that all I had for you was the Garden, Lisa. I've been trying to create a physical neural interface with kino cameras to link to your optic nerve. Prosthetic eyes. That's why there were so many broken kinos; I was studying them and trying to piece together a set of artificial eyes. I haven't had much luck so far."

Dr. Park smiled. "It's okay, Eli. Really. This garden is enough. At least you made good use of what I sacrificed my sight for."

Scott, who had been marveling at the Garden's lush, overgrown state, voiced what everyone else had been thinking. "So, Eli, you've had five years to grow these plants. What's our food situation look like? And why do we need to resupply if we have all this food?"

Eli grinned. "We have plenty of fruits, veggies, and leafy greens stored in those same low-power stasis units I discovered, which I have dubbed 'coolers.' Enough to last several months, plus we'll be able to feed ourselves indefinitely and only need to get more plants for the sake of variety and medicinal value. And that is why we need to resupply. Also, due to the strain of supporting us and the plants, our water supply will fluctuate wildly because of the time between going into the plants, the plants being harvested and eaten, and then the water being excreted from us. It's a months-long cycle from start to finish, and the water recycling system, which isn't 100 percent efficient, can only work with what's available in the air or in the plumbing. So we'll need to keep water coming in. And we'll need to do hunting and fishing to keep our meat supplies up. I want a freakin' cheeseburger, even if the cheese ends up being derived from Soylent Green. Yes, I want cheese so badly, I don't care if it's made of people. Also, my hope with the current plants is that we can shut down the air scrubbers for extended periods and live off of the oxygen recycling provided by the plants alone. That's a good chunk of life-support power we should be able to do without. I've worked the efficiency calculations, and, given our current population and the number of plants and their respective oxygen recycling efficiencies, we should be able to do without the scrubbers for several months at a time. Or we can reconfigure and reroute the filters to feed the carbon dioxide directly into the plant areas. Create a better recycling system to keep the plants alive."

Young looked at him. "You're brilliant, Eli. Can it be done?"

"Easily. That's what I blew the power conduit doing, remember? Creating a closed loop of life-support feed. I think the issue was in my lack of technical skill, because all the calculations and simulations worked out." he said. "Because of that, we already have a preliminary baseline loop to work with. And I've also been working on artificial respirator devices that simulate the function of the human respiratory system so we can have additional plants because the respirators will consume more oxygen and put out more carbon dioxide, simulating a larger crew. Eventually, we won't even need life support except for emergency situations and to keep the temperature regulated. In time, we will be living in a greenhouse, because the plants will be occupying every available area. We'll be able to eat like kings all the time. And, now, for more generalized gifts." he said, reaching into the crate and pulling out several items wrapped in plastic. He passed them out, then opened one up, revealing a dark brown bar.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you chocolate. Milk chocolate, to be precise. Admittedly, it's not actual cow's milk, just a soybean-like milk substitute, but it works. There's a coffee maker and coffee-like beans already in the mess hall, along with the sugar-like substance I've managed to derive from certain plants. But, just a heads-up warning, that coffee is so strong that it will knock your socks off. Three cups in the early morning kept me up all night and even got me through most of the next day before I started feeling tired. I think it contains more than just caffeine. It's like a coffee-flavored, long-lasting energy drink." he said. "Anyways, that's all for now, folks. Now, why don't you go and do your own things while I try to find Waldo?"

Rush raised an eyebrow as he took a drag on his cigarette. "Waldo? What's Waldo?"

Eli smiled. "Ever looked at a Where's Waldo book? That's what I do. Waldo, my friend, is the name I gave to a specific, unique plant I made. I stuck his pot on a miniaturized kino sled with just one kino, programmed to randomly fly around to a new location in the dome every few hours and park there, hiding among the plants. I have to find him within an hour, and, if I do, I win. If I don't, I hit the 'summon kino' button on the remote and the kino in Waldo's sled brings him to me. I then proceed to grab him, take him to the airlock, threaten to space his ass if he hides so well again, then torture him by partially venting a compartment I put him in."

Greer smiled. "Eli, you are the weirdest crazy fool I've ever seen." he commented.

Eli grinned. "Thank you. Now get the frell out of my sight, all of you! I must find Waldo alone! He's beaten me five times in a row! My vengeance must come!" he said, then leaned over and punched Scott. Hard. In the stomach. "Reality check, Lieutenant Assface!" he called as he did so.

He doubled over, more from surprise than pain, but in those brief moments before he straightened up, Greer had moved, grabbing Eli's arms, wrestling them behind his back, and forcing Eli to his knees as he jammed Eli's arms as far upward as he could without breaking them. "What the fuck was that crazy shit, Eli?" he demanded.

Eli squeaked in pain. "Reality check. Had to make sure you guys were real."

Greer looked at Young, who half-smiled. "Let him go, Greer. He's not himself. However, Eli, before Greer lets you go, I want you to understand that such behavior will not be tolerated. You can't just punch people. If you absolutely have to do a 'reality check,' find something else to do instead."

Eli nodded, and Greer released him. He smiled. "Can I poke people?"

In the background, TJ leaned closer to Camile and whispered, "I think he just wanted to punch Scott. It seemed kind of personal."

Young nodded. "I don't see how that should be a problem. Just call 'reality check' _before_ you do it, not as or after. Now, how long do we have until we're in range of the planet's Stargate?"

Eli smiled. "Three or four hours. Now, like I said, get the frak out of my sight so I can find Waldo and have my revenge!" he said, somewhat agitated.

Colonel Young nodded, looking at the others. "Let's leave Eli alone, people." he said, motioning toward the door. "We have a lot of things to discuss, actions to plan and the like, before everyone else wakes up." He looked at Eli. "You said we could use a second kino sled. Did you already make one?"

Eli shook his head. "Not yet. While you do it, I'll write the slaver program."

Young nodded. "We'll get on it." he said, then headed for the door. The others nodded, and followed Young out, leaving Eli to his broken mind's shenanigans.

* * *

><p>The group, sans Eli, gathered in the mess hall to discuss what their next course of action should be. Colonel Young looked around the table at the group.<p>

"Okay, people, Eli has spent five years alone planning things out. Our first order of business is his rehabilitation. He's one of our most valuable resources, and so getting him back to a more stable mental state is a top priority. The professional on Earth said his state of mind should return closer to normal fairly quickly, although some quirks and such may remain either longer or permanently. He told me that we can't force Eli's rehabilitation, and to let him stay in control. Don't force him into interacting, but encourage him to do so. Invite him to hang out, talk to him, that kind of stuff."

Everyone nodded, and Young decided to move on to the next order of business. "Scott, Greer, I want you two to find something we can make a kino sled out of, and start making it. When that's done, get the maintenance robots moved to the gate room for when we arrive. Even though we'll have plenty of time, I want to make the most of that time. TJ, start going over Eli's plants and his catalog and check if there's anything he missed. Once that's done, I want an inventory report of those and whatever Eli's already added to the infirmary. Rush, Chloe, go over everything in the computers that Eli put there and tell me what else he's done to this rust bucket. Dr. Park, stick with Scott and Greer for now. Camile, if you would join me for a walk?"

Again, everyone nodded, and then went their separate ways. Camile followed Young as the colonel departed. "What is it, Colonel?" she asked.

Young looked at her. "We're on Earth's back-burner, Camile. The issues in the Milky Way come first. How's the crew going to take it when they hear that Earth isn't even focusing more than a token gesture on us? I need you to focus on the crew, particularly the civilian contingent, keep things running smoothly. Assure them things are going to be okay, listen to their complaints. I need you to be counseling and HR to the crew during this. And let me know if you catch any warning signs that someone is planning something stupid or dangerous. We need to keep focused on going forward. Can you do that for me?"

Camile nodded. "I'll do my best to keep things under control, Colonel." she promised.

Young nodded. "Thank you, Camile." he said as the reached the corridor leading to the observation deck and marveling at the number of plants lining the corridor. When the reached the observation deck, it was like walking into a jungle. He walked toward the railing and stood there, Camile following suit, both of them staring at the blue lights of the FTL stream and wondering what was ahead of them.


	4. Planetfall

Stargate Universe: Season 3: On The Other Side

Disclaimer: I still don't own SGU, and never will.

A/N: I have decided to put several different plot pieces into motion over the next couple of chapters. The plots will be large, sweeping, and most likely deviate from the original plans the writers, producers, and such had for SGU to a not insignificant degree.

Chapter 4: Planetfall

Three hours later, the rest of the crew awoke, and, after TJ treated the occasional patient who had a negative reaction to the time in stasis, everyone gathered in the gateroom. Young, Rush, Eli, and Camile were standing in front of the gate to address the crew, with Scott, Greer, and TJ standing by to quell any potentially violent disruptions. Young elected to be upfront about the situation. He took a deep breath, then spoke.

"Okay, listen up, everyone. After checking in with Earth, it turns out the trip took two years longer than we expected. It's been five years, instead of just three." At this, murmurs and mutters permeated the crowd and even loudly-voiced protests rang out. Young held up a hand for silence, and, when that didn't work, Greer did what he did best.

"HEY! Shut up and let the man speak!" he yelled. That shut everyone up. You could hear a pin drop in the silence that followed before Young resumed his speech.

"We're alive. We have that much to be thankful for, at least. And we're in slightly better shape than we were. Due to unforeseen damage to one of the pods, Eli Wallace elected to stay out and attempt to fix it. He couldn't, but he found a way to survive for the duration of our journey and spent those five years working on finding ways to improve life aboard this ship and our situation. And we need that. Because we're going to be on our own for a while longer. The situation back in the Milky Way is desperate. The Replicators are back, and Earth isn't having much luck fighting them. They can't focus on anything that doesn't directly affect their current situation, and, unfortunately, we don't directly affect their current situation. We have to focus on moving forward, and finding our own way. However, we've received word that they have managed to negotiate a treaty with Langara for use of their gate. Once the Replicators have been defeated, we'll have a supply line. They are also working on a ship that may be able to reach us in a heartbeat and allow two-way travel back and forth. Unfortunately, that is at least two years off. We may be able to restore this ship to and beyond its former glory. There is hope, people. There's always hope. I promised you six years ago that we would find a way home, and that hasn't changed. Someday, we will have a way home. It may be soon, it may be years from now, but we will." he said.

"For now, our focus has to be on the road ahead. In approximately one hour, we will be reaching a planet that has plenty of water, vegetation, and animal life. We will be there for a week, and have the chance to take a breather. In fact, I don't think anyone would object too much to mandatory shore leave for everyone?" At this, cheers rang out. Young smiled. "That's all for now, people. Dismissed."

After the crowd dispersed, Young looked at Eli. "Eli, can I have a word with you?" he asked, nodding toward an empty corridor.

Eli nodded. "Sure." he said brightly.

As the two of them walked along, well out of earshot, Young looked at Eli. "Chloe and Dr. Rush went over your work, Eli. They noticed that, in spite of all your work on dialing within a star recently, there's no set of calculations pertaining to actually stabilizing conditions within a star to allow for a clean lock with Earth in the present without causing any time travel. Why is that?"

Eli gave the Colonel a weird look. "There's nothing about that because it's impossible. I erased all that work after discovering that it was futile. You see, Colonel Young, _Destiny_'s Bussard collectors don't have the capability to manipulate the entirety of a star to suppress any unwanted interference. The only reason manipulating the flares will work is because it's altering conditions within only a very small area. And besides, it's going to be a big enough strain on the collectors to both use its EM fields to manipulate that small area of the star and simultaneously draw enough power to establish even the briefest of nine-chevron connections. We won't be able to establish the nine-chevron link for more than a second or two, and that's with actually modifying the gate so it literally just establishes the wormhole, but doesn't engage any of its actual travel-related properties, which, under normal circumstances, automatically engage and actually consume a lot of frekkin' power, even if nothing goes through the gate.. To make things work, we have to temporarily disable the gate's ability to deconstruct, transmit, receive and reconstruct matter."

"You're saying that the only way you came up with to make the dialing within a star work actually prevents it from being used to get us home?"

"Yes. Quite ironic, if you ask me. I mean, the one way to make the best chance we had work prevents it from being used for that purpose."

Young frowned. "And there's no way to get around that?"

Eli nodded. "No way, unless I missed something big in the database. And that's unlikely. I went through everything there was to go through in the database and then some. Hell, I stumbled across Ancient **_porn_**, believe it or not, while looking for information on the make-up of stars. At least, I think I did. That could've been a hallucination, especially since I'd just consumed what are essentially psychedelic 'shrooms."

Young nodded. "I see- Wait, what do you mean, psychedelic shrooms? You're growing drugs in the garden?"

"Please, the word 'drugs' is so . . . unsavory. I prefer to call them 'recreational activity enhancers.' And yes, I have. I was alone for five years, I needed _something_ to help me relax. And, quite frankly, I think the crew needs them as well. That's why they're categorized in the catalog as 'stress alleviating herbal supplements."

Young sighed. "Let TJ know so she doesn't accidentally prescribe them without knowing what they are." he said. Eli nodded.

"Will do, sir. Is that all?"

"No. One more thing, Eli. I want you to use the stones and get in touch with Earth again. Talk to Doctors Jennifer Keller and Carson Beckett about your retrovirus work. But don't rush anything. We've got years until TJ starts exhibiting symptoms, and longer until it becomes fatal. I want you to be sure this will work. Beckett's first attempt had unforeseen results because it was rushed. I want you to be absolutely sure this will work."

Eli stopped walking, and hesitated. "About that . . ."

"What about it, Eli?" Young said, stopping and turning to look at him.

"Well, I didn't want to tell anyone about it until I'd had a chance to talk with TJ, confirm my results, but . . ."

"For God's sake, Eli, spit it out!"

"Sir, TJ doesn't have five years until the symptoms set in. More like six months. She'll be dead inside five years."

"What? It took five years on Novus before symptoms set in!"

"That's the thing, Colonel. On _Novus_, not on _Destiny_. Environmental factors can affect the onset of a disease. And there's one major factor on this ship that isn't on Novus: The FTL drive and a specific kind of radiation it emits. It's basically harmless, although, apparently, according to the occupant diagnostic protocol in the pods, it affected certain sequences of TJ's DNA, which, according to the diagnostic, were the ALS. After giving it all the data I had and interfacing the database with the diagnostic, I got a 99.9% accurate prediction of the progression of the disease. First symptoms will set in about six months from now, she'll be incapable of performing medical duties within three years, and she'll be dead in four, give or take a few months." Eli said.

Young stared at him. "Then you have six months, Eli. I want a working retrovirus for TJ within six months. Also, did this radiation have any effect on anyone else?"

"No, it didn't. As for the deadline, I can't guarantee that, Colonel. Between this and everything else my noggin is needed for, I'm going to be hard-pressed to have enough time in the day to work on everything, and that's not counting the probable fuck-ups. Besides, we should probably bring them here, since that way, they can work with what we have, where we have it."

Young sighed. "Just get it done as soon as possible."

"I'll try, Colonel. If nothing else, I'll have a prototype version ready by then. Something that might at least form a stopgap."

Young nodded. "Good." he said.

Eli nodded. "Also, sir, since this seems like as good a time as any . . . I found schematics and equipment to manufacture certain . . . non-projectile defensive tools of highly advanced design that would prove quite useful in our continued travels."

A pause while Young thought about what Eli had said. "Ancient energy weapons?" he asked.

Eli nodded. "Yes. They seem easy enough to create, and they have three categories of settings. Stun category, with settings that would just stun a human or most aliens for varying lengths of time, kill settings, which are basically guaranteed to kill, and the annihilator settings . . . well, they convert the beam from an electromagnetic laser shock to a phased kinetic electroplasma discharge. It could blast a small hole through a bulkhead door on this ship in three or four shots, eliminate the door entirely in ten, less if you had multiple weapons being fired. The planet has several vital materials needed to construct them, and those are in the list of things the 'bots are going to collect. I'll get started when I get the chance after we get back."

Young nodded. "That's good, Eli. Don't be afraid to get help if you need it, though."

"One more thing, Colonel."

Young sighed again. "What is it now, Eli?"

"I've figured out the FTL drive. How to repair it and make it slightly more efficient, anyway. I had to, to minimize the extension to our flight time after I blew that conduit, even with hooking a generator up to it to feed it just a little more power. Given time, I should be able to increase our speed, decrease our power requirements, and decrease the amount of time before jumping to or from FTL becomes safe again, especially after I get Amanda and Ginn out of quarantine."

"Eli, why don't you just tell me these things up front?"

"Well, I doubt my thought process is what you would call normal at the moment." Eli said.

* * *

><p>Just under an hour later, the gate room was abuzz with activity. A number of people had gathered there, anxiously awaiting the ship's exit from FTL. The advance team to go through had already gathered and was waiting at a safe distance. A kino was already waiting as well, ready to go through as soon as the gate dialed. The team consisted of Lieutenants Scott and Johansen, Master Sergeant Greer, Varro, Brody, and Eli, who, despite his mental state, was the closest thing to an expert on the planet that they had, since he'd been studying the data for quite some time. Also hovering around the gateroom were several of Eli's modified kinos, which he'd introduced as Sherlock, Hovernator(Which he'd explained was a portmanteau of 'hovering,' 'governor,' and 'terminator'), the Toclafane triplets, Toc, La, and Fane, who had circular saw blades mounted on arms, and Argus, which Eli had equipped with a number of different sensor capabilities, ranging from radar and sonar to life-signs scans to infrared and ultraviolet imagers. These were just a small portion of his Kino ensemble. He had found a way to interface multiple kinos to one remote so that they could be accessed and used independently without the need for the slave circuitry program. Volker was standing at the console, waiting for the ship to drop out of FTL and the Stargate to dial. The plan was simple. Once the connection was made, Eli would send Argus through. If everything checked out, the team would head through. And if the team found everything satisfactory, the rest of the expedition would head through. Volker had set up a feed that showed how long they had until they were next scheduled to exit FTL on the console. As the countdown ticked lower and fell below the one-minute mark, he started calling it out at five-second intervals.<p>

The only person noticeably absent from the gateroom was Doctor Nicholas Rush, who was on the bridge to go over some of Eli's work in the computer while keeping an eye on things from there. He was also secretly trying to find Eli's data on how to safely extract Ginn and Amanda from quarantine. Unfortunately, crazy Eli had also apparently been very paranoid about security, specifically with regards to that project. He'd encrypted the file and then password-protected each of the decryption programs with a different password. As the countdown until they dropped out of FTL ticked downward, he watched the light display of the FTL drive. Ten seconds left.

When the ship dropped out of FTL, everyone in the gateroom waited anxiously for the gate to grind to life, which it did moments later, spinning into action, the white light of the chevrons and symbols strangely comforting to Eli, after so long without seeing it.

Rush checked their position; they were within range of the gate, and had also coincidentally dropped out on the far edges of a rather unusual star system. The sensor data indicated they were in a binary star system, with two white dwarfs at the center, so close they shared an orbit around a common point. The electromagnetic disturbances from the dwarfs made it nearly impossible to get a clear sensors scan of the area, which is why Rush didn't notice the probe orbiting very close to these stars, or that it had turned its specialized scanners on the Destiny the moment it detected the disturbance caused by the ship's exit from FTL. When it detected the wormhole of the Stargate, it quickly traced the path and ascertained that the destination planet would be easy enough to investigate. It sent a signal back to its controller via a signal undetectable to methods available to the Destiny crew. This controller analyzed the data, then sent new instructions to the probe.

* * *

><p>Eli gave the all-clear once the gate had opened and Argus had been sent through to investigate. The team walked through the event horizon in pairs, with Eli's kinos following, and Eli found himself blinking at the sunlight. When his vision adapted and he looked around, he was assaulted by a variety of input. The feel of the breeze on his skin, the scent of the vegetation, the natural blue of a real sky, the horizon, and a myriad of sounds. He looked around, then felt dizzy for a moment. TJ, noticing this, walked over to him.<p>

"Are you okay, Eli?" she asked.

Eli nodded. "Just not used to an open sky or the noises of a planet, that's all." he said, shaking his head.

Scott looked at Eli. "Okay, Eli, send your kinos out on a perimeter search. Two-hundred-fifty meter radius from the gate."

Eli nodded, then rapidly accessed each kino's program and sent it out. "Okay, done. They'll spiral outward from here until they reach that perimeter, and they'll alert me if they detect anything unusual." he said.

Scott nodded. "Okay, then, we could use shelter. Looks like we're in the foothills of a mountain range, so any caves or outcroppings nearby would be a good start. Split up, two teams of three. Myself, TJ, and Eli on one team, Greer, Varro, and Brody on the other. Start looking for any natural shelter or someplace where we could set them up. Eli, can you program the Kinos to look for something like that?"

Eli nodded. "I can at least get them to give us possibilities, based on geographic features they observe." he said. "I thought you might say that, so I already gave them the search parameters."

* * *

><p>Several hours later, an extensive search had located a large, flat-topped ridge that would make an ideal campsite and work had begun on setting the shelter up. Most of the crew had already arrived from Destiny to help out. Several teams were combing the surrounding area for anything useful, and the robots had been positioned to begin their mining operation. Eli's modification to the Kino programming for the sleds had been perfect, and so each of the sleds was now remote operated by a single remote.<p>

Rush was still on the ship, continuing to monitor things from there. Deciding to take the opportunity they had to examine the binary system, he focused the sensors at the center of the star system, hoping that the concentrated focus could penetrate the interference with slightly more accuracy. Finally, after several hours of fine-tuning the sensors and trying to punch through, he gave up and decided to re-examine the data he had gathered. It was while he was perusing this data that he noticed something interesting. He would have to speak to Colonel Young about it, and bring in the help of someone on Earth who was an expert in such matters as what he thought he saw. But that could wait, for a little while, at least. The colonel was on the planet and busy with efforts there. He was, however, going to be coming back aboard Destiny that night, having volunteered to be part of the first skeleton crew. He could inform Colonel Young then, after going over the data several more times. He wanted to be absolutely certain it was worth bringing someone from Earth in for.

Back on the planet, Eli had just finished wiring up a communications relay system that would allow him to dramatically increase the range of the kinos from the remote, having discovered that the 250-meter perimeter had been almost too far from the remote for the kinos to function. He linked the relay to Argus, and sent the kino off toward the mountains to look for anything else. He wasn't expecting anything, but it didn't hurt to be sure. As he watched the screen, suddenly one of the sensor outputs blinked red and expanded to fill the screen. Eli checked which sensors had been tripped, and was astonished to see that it was the electromagnetic activity sensor, which had picked something up buried in what looked like the rubble of a landslide that was giving off faint, almost non-existent EM readings. He told Argus to home in on the signal and get a visual, then picked up his radio. "Colonel Young, Argus just picked something up on the sensors. It's emitting a faint EM reading. I sent him to investigate."

"I'll be right there." Young said. When he reached Eli's location, he spoke. "What is it, Eli?"

"I don't know yet. Argus is just about to make visual contact." Eli said. The duo watched the screen as Argus neared the object. When it established that the object was in visual range, they could already tell was mostly covered by the rubble. It looked to be of a fairly decent size, and from what they could make out, it appeared to be long and slightly cylindrical. Young was able to make out that it appeared to have some kind of a drive in the part they could see, which meant it was some kind of flying craft, probably originally space-capable, given that there were no signs of life on the planet.

As Young looked at it, he couldn't shake the feeling that it looked oddly familiar. He looked at Eli. "How difficult would it be to reach that location on foot?" he asked.

Eli grimaced. "Tricky. It's located about five thousand feet up and about 110 degrees around the mountainside from us. It would probably be pretty difficult at best, and that's assuming that everyone knows what they're doing."

Young picked up his radio. "Lieutenant Scott, dial the gate and get Doctor Rush on the radio. Have him wait for myself and Eli to return to Destiny, then make an FTL jump that will get the _Destiny_ within shuttle range of the planet. Tell him we've found something, presumably a spacecraft of some sort, worth investigating."

"Yes, sir." Scott replied. Young looked at Eli, and then nodded in the direction of the gate. They headed back to it as the connection finished, and they caught Rush's words over Young's radio. "Well, you've found some kind of spacecraft on the planet, have you now? I'd like to get Chloe back here to help me calculate the jump. And would you please inform Colonel Young that I have something I want him and Eli to take a look at as well?"

Young spoke into his radio. "This is Young, Rush. What is it?"

"I'm not entirely sure, Colonel, but I have my suspicions. I'd like to discuss it in private, if that's acceptable."

"Give me an idea, and we'll see if I think it's worth a private conversation." Young said.

"An unusual energy signature, Colonel, near the binary stars at the center of the star system _Destiny_ is in right now. I believe I've seen similar readings back in the Milky Way, and, if you think it's worth it, I'd like to bring in an expert from Earth to confirm my findings.

"We'll be there in a few minutes." Young said. When Chloe joined them, the trio dialed Destiny again, then headed through the wormhole. Rush was waiting to greet them.

Young looked at Rush. "What's so important, Rush?" he said in a tone of voice that conveyed his doubts.

Rush took a breath, then spoke. "_Destiny_ is currently in a binary white dwarf star system. Now, I decided to focus _Destiny_'s sensors at the center of the system, and, after fine-tuning them, I managed to penetrate the radiation and pick up a relatively distinct energy signature, which I believe I've seen before."

"The drones, our blue friends, or the Ursini?" Young asked.

Rush shook his head. "None of the above. I've seen something very similar in the Milky Way."

"What is it, Rush?"

"I believe the energy signature is that of a wormhole, Colonel. A stable, artificially-generated wormhole."

That got Young's attention. "I assume the expert you want is-"

"-Colonel Samantha Carter, Earth's leading expert in wormhole physics, because if there is a technology that can generate wormholes, and if it has an easier way of meeting it's energy requirements-"

"-we can attempt to find a way to allow transit between Earth and Destiny, so we could get more supplies and exchange personnel." Chloe finished, having caught on to the chain of conversation.

Rush nodded. "Exactly."

Young nodded. "After you and Chloe have calculated the jump, we can pay a visit to Earth and inform them."

Rush could pick up on the small things about Young's behavior, and he decided to call the Colonel out on it. "Chloe, Eli, why don't you two go start working on the FTL calculations? The colonel and myself have some business to take care of."

Once the two younger people were gone, Rush looked at Young. "What is it, Colonel Young? What's bothering you?"

"The spacecraft we found on the planet. From what we could make out of it, I could swear I've seen something very similar before."

"Where?"

"The Milky Way. Specifically, during the Ori Crusade." he said grimly.

"The Ori, out here?" Rush said, dumbfounded.

Young nodded. "If that is an Ori ship, and they are out here, we need a supply line with Earth to get Destiny up to better standards, and even then, I don't know if we stand a chance if we encounter the Ori."


	5. Surprises, Surprises

Stargate Universe: Season 3: On The Other Side

Disclaimer: I still don't own SGU, and never will. Also, I borrowed the idea of Atlantis' current location from the original planned continuity as revealed on Joseph Mallozzi's blog

A/N: Also, I realize that I have forgotten about Varro these past few chapters. Don't worry, though; he'll show up probably in the next chapter

Chapter 5: Surprises, Surprises

After the jump had been calculated, Young and Rush headed for the stones to check in with Earth. Predictably, General O'Neill did not react well to the news that the most powerful enemy Earth had faced might still be around.

"How the hell did the godforsaken **_ORI_** get out there?" he yelled.

"We don't know, and we're not even sure yet if it really is them." Young replied calmly. "Now, like we told you, we may have found evidence of a technology that can generate wormholes, which, if we could acquire it, could be used to transfer supplies and personnel back and forth from _Destiny_. Perhaps we could even retrofit it with naquadah reactors, Asgard plasma beams, and the like, get her up to snuff so that we might at least stand a chance if it is the Ori."

"I'm surprised you aren't asking for a ZPM if the possibility of a wormhole generator works out." Telford commented. "I mean, the Ori motherships were almost impossible to beat even with highly advanced technology.

"I figured that you could use those more here. I understand that you can manufacture them now, but I have no idea how long that takes, and, since you're faced with the bigger threat, you need what you can get."

O'Neill nodded. "The _Hammond'_s in drydock undergoing repairs at the moment. Her crew's on shore leave, and I think Colonel Carter is taking her shore leave on Atlantis, probably bickering with McKay over something-or-other. Thankfully, though, Atlantis is just sitting on the dark side of the moon rather than a galaxy or two over. I'll get in touch and have her switch with someone on your crew in a couple of hours. As for the ZPM situation, to my understanding, they take about four months to manufacture. And the facilities were intended to produce them in groups of three. So that's only twelve ZPMs in one year, and when you consider that every ship is being outfitted to hold three, we don't really have that many extra at the moment, given that we've been turning out ships as fast as possible. We've added six 304s to the fleet. That's a total of 30 ZPMs, and we've only been making them for less than a year and a half. We won't be done for another year or so. At the moment, we might be able to spare a less-than-full one, but that would be it. Honestly, though, it's all hypothetical nonsense unless we do find this alleged wormhole technology."

Young nodded. "Thank you, General."

After returning to the ship, Rush took Eli and Chloe to start going over the data, just to see if they could provide any input.

* * *

><p>Colonel Samantha Carter was working in the main power room of Atlantis, arguing with McKay over how to connect the recently-built trio of subspace capacitors into the system. After McKay had managed to work out the kinks, they had decided to build a trio of them on Atlantis to help with power requirements and to provide an additional power supply for when Atlantis was dispatched to fight the Replicators. That was the plan; to send Atlantis into combat once it was fully powered. Asgard plasma beams had been retrofitted onto Atlantis because of their devastating potential, which, when coupled with Atlantis' ample power supply, allowed a substantial number to be mounted without draining significant power. In addition to that, Atlantis was being equipped with an adaption of the Asgard transporters configured to matter-energy converter mode to allow its drones and other supplies to be restocked easily.<p>

"I don't care if it makes less sense than social interaction to you, Rodney! The only way to ensure a stable power flow is to plug the subspace capacitors directly into the main power conduit and, once it's full, open the energy flow into the conduit while already initiating the refill!"

"If you do that, you're going to overload the system and blow the entire city out of the solar system!" McKay retaliated. "You have to incorporate a buffer or two into the conduits to absorb the power and then trickle it into the system! There's no other way that won't blow this city higher than-"

"The solar system you obliterated the last time you were dealing with something over your head because your ego's larger than a supergiant star?" Carter cut in.

This went on for some time. So engrossed in the conversation were they that they didn't notice the figure standing in the doorway until they heard an earth-shattering voice.

"For the love of Christ, Colonel Carter, you're a Colonel in the United States Air Force! Act like it! Don't feed this petty egghead's desire for scientific supremacy!" O'Neill yelled, exasperated.

Both parties stopped and stared. Carter spoke first, clearly embarrassed as hell, if her red cheeks were any indication. "Umm, sir, how long were you standing there?" she asked meekly.

O'Neill cocked his head to one side and raised an eyebrow. "About since 'If you don't shut up, Meredith, I'm going to shove a lemon so far down your throat that the doctor won't be able to tell hives from hemorrhoids in the autopsy.'" he said after a moment's thought. "And it got more interesting from there."

Carter paled. "Oh, God, you heard that, sir?"

O'Neill nodded. " I did. Anyway, Carter, you're going to have to rain-check on finishing your argument with Doctor McKay. You're needed on Earth. A PJ's waiting for us to take us outside the shield so the Daedalus can beam us to Earth."

"A PJ, sir?"

"Yeah. A Puddle Jumper. PJ." he said.

"Can I ask what I'm needed for?"

"You're taking a trip to _Destiny_, Carter. They believe they've found signs of a technology that can artificially generate wormholes. And since you're the leading authority on wormholes in every known galaxy, I need you to check their data, confirm or deny, and advise on the next course of action."

Samantha Carter nearly had an orgasm. She'd been wanting to get a chance to visit Destiny for some time, but her obligation as commander of the _Hammond_ had gotten in the way

McKay, of course, spoke. "Shouldn't I tag along, just to double-check her analysis? I mean, everyone else screws up a lot, so I should probably-"

"Oh, shut up, McKay." Jack said.

"I was just trying to be consider-"

Jack cut him off. "McKay, let's make one thing abundantly clear: If you and Carter were the only people who could save the world, I would _shoot_ you in the head so that Carter could work in peace. Quite frankly, ever since you tried to _kill_ Teal'c, I find it hard to trust anything that comes out of your mouth, especially since you've screwed up more in a few years than Carter ever will. So, until your brain becomes a national treasure like hers, go occupy yourself trying to cure your lemon allergy. Maybe you'll get lucky on the first go. Maybe you won't."

With that parting shot, O'Neill and Carter exited, heading to the waiting Puddle Jumper.

* * *

><p>Just over an hour later, onboard <em>Destiny<em>, Camile Wray had decided to switch with Colonel Carter. She was sitting in the communications lab, with Young, Rush, Eli, and Chloe nearby. The ship was in FTL, heading toward the planet. Camile looked at Rush. "I hope she agrees with you on this, Rush." she said. A second later, she found herself on Earth, switching places with Colonel Carter.

Carter looked around the room she was in. She recognized Colonel Young, Doctor, Rush, and, vaguely, Chloe Armstrong. She didn't recognize the young man standing with them, although, given what she'd been told, she was probably looking at Eli Wallace.

"Colonel Carter, I assume?" Young asked.

Carter smiled. "Everett, it's good to see you again."

Young made short work of the introductions, and the group headed for the bridge. When they arrived, after taking a quick tour of the ship, Rush led her to a console and pulled up the data. Carter sat down and began looking over it.

"I'm guessing you recognized the similarity of the energy signature from the recorded data when we ran subspace analysis tests on the wormholes generated by Stargates shortly after you joined the program?" she asked.

"That's correct, yes."

Carter nodded. "I'll let you know in an hour or so if you had it right." she said.

* * *

><p>An hour later, the group reconvened on the bridge. Carter looked at the group, and then smiled. "You were right, Doctor Rush. There are differences, like anyone would expect in similar technologies developed by different species, but the effects on subspace are a close match to a Stargate's wormhole." she said.<p>

"Is there any way to track these?" Young asked.

Carter nodded. "I believe so. If the drones could track the activation of a Stargate by the effects on subspace, it wouldn't be too hard to tune the sensors to detect these wormholes, or even where they've recently occurred. You see, after analyzing the data again, I was able to determine that the effects on subspace of this technology linger. In short, if we found this technology and had the chance to analyze it, we could theoretically re-open any recent wormholes at a significant reduction to the power requirements."

"How quickly can you do that? Set up the sensors to track them?" Young asked.

"It shouldn't take too long, with help. I mean, we'd just have to feed the data parameters into the sensors and set that as a secondary priority to scan for."

Young looked at Rush and Eli. "Get on it, you two. If she needs help with anything, I expect you two to handle it."

Two hours and one unsuccessful reprogramming attempt later, they exited FTL within shuttle range of the planet. Carter was going to keep at it as long as she could. Young had called on Brody and Volker to take over helping Colonel Carter while Rush and Eli accompanied him down to the planet. Also with them were Greer, Scott, and others who could move some weight.

When they landed near the (possible) Ori vessel's location, they got out of the shuttle slowly, weapons raised as they approached the wreck. The odds of running into someone were minimal, given the state of affairs, but there could be any number of things that they couldn't account for, including possibly aggressive wildlife. When they neared the damaged vessel, Young gave the order to start clearing the rocks away. The team set to work diligently, and slowly the long, slightly-cylindrical shape began to emerge. Every chunk of rubble that was removed deepened Young's conviction that it was Ori, although it looked old. Very old. There were certain differences in the design from what he'd expected, indicating that it was an older model.

When they finally finished clearing what they could, it became apparent that it had crash-landed, as the nose of the vessel was crushed into the rock of the slope and there was prominent battle damage over the hull. Close inspection revealed that the cockpit had been penetrated by some kind of energy weapon, and Young felt sick to his stomach as they realized that the occupant had been unable to leave and hadn't crashed that long ago. Most of the flesh still clung to the bones, and the uniform was relatively intact, save for what appeared to be a large burn mark blasted through the occupant's torso and holes left by the shards of glass and metal that had presumably been part of the cockpit cover before the energy blast had punctured it..

They removed the body, and Rush was soon in the cockpit, analyzing the controls and looking for anything useful. After a few minutes, during which he found the power switch, he spoke.

"Colonel, I think you'll want to see this." he said.

"What is it, Rush?" he asked.

"I've accessed what appears to be a video log made by the pilot. I'm attempting to patch the feed into the kino remote so you can view it."

"How much power does this thing have left?" Young asked

"It still has plenty of power left. Nearly a full tank, in fact." Rush said. A moment later, he smiled. "I've completed the interface and am accessing the last recorded entry in the log."

"No." Young said. He looked at Lieutenant Scott. "Take the shuttle back to _Destiny_ and get on the stones to Earth. Ask for Doctor Jackson to switch with someone on the stones, because we need his skills as a translator."

Rush was indignant. "Colonel, I assure you, I can provide an accurate translation. From what I can discern, this dialect is very similar to that on _Destiny_, indicating that the Ori who may be here started on this path long ago. If I had anything worth wagering, I'd put money on the possibility that the Ori we may be facing are, in fact, non-ascended, genuine Ori, not mortal followers of ascended Ori."

Young looked at Lieutenant Scott, who had just been about to enter the shuttle. "Get TJ on the radio, brief her, and go to pick her up. I want the body taken back to _Destiny_ for analysis. I want to know everything about this poor soul, particularly his DNA. Get people from Earth on it as well. Rush, I still want Doctor Jackson here."

"Colonel, if we were to download this vessel's databanks to _Destiny_, it would not be hard to reconfigure the translation program to subtitle the video logs." Eli said. "We don't need to bring Doctor Jackson all the way out here, especially if he's as boring in real life as he is in those videos."

"He's not." Young replied.

"That's right. He's worse." Greer half-joked.

"Watch it, Master Sergeant." Young cautioned. "Daniel Jackson is a brilliant scientist. Just not a brilliant people-person."

* * *

><p>Back on the Destiny a short time later, Young, Rush, Eli, Scott, and Chloe were gathered on the bridge. TJ was in the infirmary with a few people from Earth who had experience with near-ascended being anatomy. Colonel Carter was still working on her tracking program, and believed she was close to finishing it. Eli had finished the modified translation program and looked at the others before starting to play the video logs. He had also been briefed on the Ori.<p>

"Now playing the last log entry. Subtitles for the following feature presentation provided by Eli Wallace Subtitles & Translations, Inc. Please enjoy." he said.

An image of a young man, the former pilot of the vessel, appeared. He was weak, and, given the state of the cockpit around him and the smoldering blast mark on his chest, it was shortly before his death, after the accident. He began to speak in Ancient, and a few moments later, the words started appearing beneath the screen.

_"My name is Atren, Pilot Third Class of the former Ori Seventh Fleet, now the Seekers of the Truth. If you are watching this, I am dead. I do not have long. My advanced physiology's healing abilities are not enough for this wound. I can feel my life slipping away. If you can understand this, know that you are in great danger. My fighter squadron was tasked with securing this space ahead of the main fleet. We encountered a race of xenophobic, nomadic aliens who claimed we were in their space. We tried to reason with them, informed them that we were just passing through, but they opened fire."_ Atren paused to cough, then continued, _"We managed to dispatch them, but took heavy damage. I am no longer registering the carrier which brought my squadron and four others here, but they were not destroyed. I am apparently the only casualty. If you are Alteran, our brethren, I pray you do not seek vengeance on the Seekers of the Truth for the actions of the other Ori so long ago. Have mercy, for we have seen the error of our ways. We are not beyond reason, and we have the same goal as you, the same reason for following your trail of Stargates left across the universe. The truth is in the pattern. Farewell and good fortune. May you find the truth you seek. If you wish, seek us out along the Path you laid and perhaps our peoples can pursue it together."_ The video feed cut off a moment later.

Colonel Young looked at the others. "That was interesting. Anyone buy it?"

"Why would a dying man lie?" Chloe asked.

"Any number of reasons, Chloe. To set a trap for us, for one, trying to make us lower our guard should we encounter them." Rush replied.

Suddenly a set of sensors went off at Carter's console. "We're picking up a subspace disturbance, Colonel Young, fifteen thousand kilometers outside the planet's gravity well. It appears to match the signature of the wormhole." she called.

Young looked at the rest of the bridge crew. "Arm weapons and raise shields." he said, going to the captain's chair. "Carter, are you picking anything up on sensors?"

"Yes, Colonel. One object, very small, no more than two meters long and less than a meter wide, heading straight for the planet. I can't get anything else; it appears to be protected from scans by some kind of energy field that scrambles sensors."

"ETA?"

"Five minutes at present speed and course."

"Lieutenant Scott, get on the radio, alert the people on the planet, tell them to begin preparing for an evacuation to any viable planet in range. Can you give me an impact area and can we intercept it?"

"Negative, Colonel." Rush said, having gone over to one of the control panels and pulling up the sensors array. "We can't intercept it, even if we were to use the shuttle, or get anything in weapons range before it's too late. And I can't say with any certainty, but I believe it might be heading for the camp on the planet."

Carter's eyes widened. "I'm picking up an energy signature coming from the object, directed at the subspace disturbance. The wormhole appears to be closing; it's readings are fading. I think that the signature is a deactivation signal of some sort to shut down the wormhole."

"I want that tracking program up as soon as possible, and the moment you have it done, focus on tracking that disturbance to the source. Rush, keep on it. I want to know the moment you have a confirmed trajectory or manage to find a way to penetrate that energy field. I want to know what we're facing."

"Of course, Colonel." Rush replied. A few moments later, Scott confirmed that an evacuation was underway on the planet. Rush kept tracking the object, and several minutes later breathed a sigh of relief.

"Colonel, the object has altered course and entered into geosynchronous orbit around the planet, over the camp. It is holding position and I am not reading any energy discharges that would be indicative of an attack, and physical projectiles would be ineffective from orbit. It may simply be a probe sent to investigate. I see no reason to automatically assume malice on the part of whoever sent it. I advise attempting to make contact or to proceed as though it wasn't even there."

"Lieutenant Scott, take the shuttle, Eli, and Greer down to the planet. Dial the planet they evacuated to and send the all-clear. Take the space-suits with you; after you're done, I want you to go see if you can pick up that probe. Or at least get close to it. Try to assess what you can before you get too close."

"Yes, sir." the lieutenant replied, heading out of the area with Eli in tow.

Young's radio chirped shortly afterward. "Colonel Young, this is TJ. We've finished the examination of the corpse you found, and . . . you'll want to get down here."

Young sighed. "I'll be right down." he said.

* * *

><p>When he reached the infirmary, TJ was standing by a console, going over the data again. She looked up. "Colonel Young, after consulting several experts from Earth who have had encounters with near-ascended being physiology, and performing genetic tests with the ship's aid, I can say with near-certainty that, if nothing else, this individual, when he was alive, was definitely evolved beyond what we would consider the norm. He was a near-ascended entity, and, presumably, so are the majority of the others of his race. I'd say that we are looking at a man who had abilities somewhere along the same level as a Prior. If they're against us, we're facing what amounts to a race of superhumans."<p>

Young sighed. "Just like Rush predicted." he said. "Thankfully, though, we might not have to fight them. The records that Rush managed to extract from his fighter included several log entries. The last one, made shortly before his death, seems to indicate that they split off from the main Ori long ago. The downside, however, is that there's an enemy that was in the area when this poor soul got shot down. They appear to be nomadic, so they might not be here, but we need to be on guard."

TJ nodded. "Yes, sir."

Young turned to leave, but stopped. "TJ, has Eli spoken to you about his retrovirus idea yet?"

"No, sir. He hasn't had the time." TJ replied.

Young nodded. "When we have a spare moment, talk to him." he said. A part of him felt glad that TJ didn't yet know that she was mere months from the onset of her ALS, but another part of him felt sorry for her. She didn't know that she was closer to dying than she thought.

He left the room on that note.

* * *

><p>After delivering the message to the evacuated group that it was safe to return, the shuttle took off and headed for orbit. The three of them had gotten in the suits before leaving <em>Destiny<em> and were planning on taking the probe the same way they salvaged one of the drones earlier in their journey. Back up to it, decompress the cabin, open the hatch, and take it aboard. However, they were first going to deploy Argus to check it out when they got close enough.

When they reached orbit, Eli made sure that the cable he'd attached to Argus was secured to both Argus and the shuttle. He wasn't going to lose his little Kino-buddy. They neared the object, and for the first time, Eli saw exactly what they were going after. It was about six feet long, and maybe three feet wide. Overall, it resembled a slightly-flattened cylinder, capped with a dome at either end. Other than that, details were hard to make out, because the object seemed to be surrounded by a field that shifted and distorted the object's image. They turned around and backed up. When they depressurized the cabin and opened the door, Eli threw a rock he'd picked up on the planet at it, simply to test the shields it might have. It hit the field, and the entire field shimmered, energy arcing over it, before the rock vaporized.

"Wow." Eli muttered. A few seconds later, he gently pushed Argus out, and began maneuvering the kino toward it, making sure to stay clear of the energy field.

"Can you make anything out, Eli?" Scott asked.

Eli shook his head. "Not yet. Beginning scans." he said. Every scan he ran, however, showed the same thing: inconclusive data that was distorted and differentiated beyond recognition.

"No luck." he said.

"Maybe if you ask nicely, it'll let you poke and prod it." Greer joked. Eli's face lit up. "That's genius, Greer!" he said, opening up a communications channel.

"Umm, hi, alien probe-thingy. We're travelers, stranded out here. We just want to take a look at you, so if you'd kindly drop the energy shield around you and not hurt us so we can pick you up and examine you so we can possibly copy your technology to give us a better chance at surviving the perils of this universe, we'd appreciate that. Please, I don't know if you or whoever's controlling you can even understand this, but, hopefully, you've got some kind of translation software that will allow you to figure this out eventually."

Seconds passed. Nothing happened. Eli frowned. "You know, crazy shit like that always works in the movies." he said, disappointed.

"Well, it doesn't work in real life." Scott replied. A second later, the energy field shimmered, and then vanished, revealing the undistorted device.

"Apparently it does." Eli commented a moment later.

"Well, enough of that. Let's get this thing onboard and back to the ship." Scott said. "How are those readings looking now, Eli?"

"Interesting." Eli replied. "It's almost like . . . like the sensors can't even get readings anymore. I think the readings we were picking up from it earlier were generated by the distortion field. Whatever it is, the technology is beyond what Argus can comprehend. Are you getting anything?"

"Same here, Eli. Can't really get anything definitive, but I can make out that it has propulsion, sensors, and some kind of standard communications system, plus a lot of other things I can't identify. I'm not picking up anything remotely resembling weapons systems, which makes me feel a lot better. Now, let's just get this taken care of."

A few minutes later, they managed to get the probe onboard and set a course for Destiny to get the thing back to people and an environment that would be more conducive to studying it.

Eli found himself wondering exactly what they were looking at, if a species had created technology that confounded Ancient sensors, even if they were apparently very outdated compared to the later Ancient tech. He found himself silently praying that they didn't make an enemy of these guys if and when the seemingly-inevitable contact went down. After all, they had an active piece of technology belonging to this species in their possession. There was no guarantee that the aliens wouldn't want it back, even if they had apparently deactivated the defensive system and seemingly invited the crew to take it.


	6. Life Goes On

Stargate Universe: Season 3: On The Other Side

Disclaimer: SGU is not mine. End of story.

A/N: It was brought to my attention that I was neglecting character-driven moments in this story, and I have resolved to use this chapter to begin to remedy that. I will attempt to incorporate more character moments into future chapters as well. Also, I have decided to present this as a special extra-length chapter for your enjoyment and mine.

Chapter 6: Life Goes On

Varro was sitting in the infirmary, having been injured during the evacuation when they thought they were in danger. They had gated to another planet, and from there, to Destiny, to get around the fact that Destiny was too close to the planet to dial directly to it.

As TJ examined the cuts on his arm, she smiled. "Eli's working on a cure for ALS." she said brightly, taking a clear glass bottle containing a greenish liquid and a cloth that Eli had provided. The liquid was a plant-extract that served as both a potent topical antibiotic and anesthetic. She put the cloth over the mouth of the bottle, turned it upside down for a moment to get some of the liquid on the cloth, and then began to daub at the wounds with it.

Varro winced as she began to clean the wound, but smiled nonetheless. "That's good. That's really good."

"So, how'd you hurt yourself?" TJ asked.

"I fell during the evacuation and cut my arm on some sharp rocks." Varro explained. "How bad is it?"

"Well, I don't think you'll need stitches. Just let me finish sterilizing the wounds, and we'll get you bandaged up so you can go about business as usual.

Varro nodded. "Thank you." he said.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Eli had taken the probe they'd recovered into an area of the ship far away from the main areas to study. It hadn't made a twitch since it had shut down its shields, and Eli was getting ready to start looking at its innards. Rush was busy elsewhere, having decided it was best to tend to other matters, like continuing to check the ship's condition. Eli carefully approached what looked like a panel on the top of the alien artifact. He carefully examined it, looking for some way to open it. Finally, he figured out how to unbolt the thing, and did so, removing the panel and peering inside.<p>

What met his gaze was arguably the most complicated thing he'd ever laid his eyes on. It was a recessed console with dozens of controls on it, buttons, indicator lights, gauges, and much more. The script that decorated it was a language he didn't recognize, not that he should. He quickly set about taking off the rest of the armor, determined to get a look at the whole thing.

Several hours later, he'd managed to reach one conclusion: he had no idea how any of it worked. He had, however, managed to remove the shield generator dish, which meant it was officially safe. Now, he just had to figure out its propulsion, communications systems, and everything else. But he really wanted to focus on the shields and power source. If they could find a way to duplicate them and cobble these onto Destiny's systems, they could greatly improve the ship's performance.

"Have you considered the possibility of attempting to translate the language?" a female voice asked.

Eli looked up. "Hello, Halluci-Chloe." he said dryly. "And yes, I have. But I don't have anything to go on, to reference it against, to even begin building a translation program."

"Imagine it like this: you send a probe out into space. Knowing there may be intelligent life out there that may intercept it, what do you do? Hint: they did it on both _Voyager_ probes." A male voice said.

Eli's eyes widened. "Of course, Halluci-Rush. A database of information about the culture that launched it, including language samples! Why didn't I think of that? I'm so frakking stupid!" Eli said. Moving to the device, he began to look for any kind of pictograph, any visual evidence that would identify something meant to be watched or listened to.

"Because you are really frakking stupid, Eli. Too stupid to deserve a girl like Chloe. That's why she chose me."

Eli whirled around and launched himself at this unwelcome hallucination. "Fuck you, Halluci-Scott! Fuck you!" he yelled, swinging at the hallucination, but knowing he wouldn't make contact with it. The hallucination disappeared, Eli's fist hit the wall, he gave a muffled cry of pain, shook it off like he'd done so many times before, and returned to work. Nothing. He started muttering to himself, in his frustrated state not noticing the blinking light near what future investigation would reveal was a microphone that was recording and analyzing everything he said, working on building a linguistics program.

* * *

><p>The next day, Eli decided to work on beginning to remove Ginn and Amanda from quarantine. With some help from Rush, they initiated all the processes and then just had to wait. In the meantime, Eli had elected to go back to Earth via the stones. Well, 'elected' wasn't the right word; 'involuntarily volunteered by Colonel Young' was the best phrase to describe it. Something about 'a well-deserved vacation after five years without taking so much as a sick-day.' But, at the same time, while Eli would rather be on Destiny, he thought it might be nice to see some of Earth again, maybe visit his mom.<p>

When Eli went to the communications lab, he found himself walking side-by-side with Colonel Carter, still in Camille's body. She'd remained onboard, working on finding a way to trace the alien wormholes. He smiled brightly at her. "So, Colonel, enjoying your stay?" he asked.

"Very much, Eli. This ship is incredible. I mean, it's a chance to study Ancient technology millenniums older than anything I've ever seen before. I was just going back to Earth to check in and take care of some business."

"What kind of business?"

"I don't want to get anyone's hopes up, so I'd prefer it if you kept this quiet, at least until I have more solid news. You see, I was thinking, while the power requirement for a wormhole generator to reach the Milky Way from here is insane, we could theoretically save power by minimizing the size of the wormhole. Maybe down to a few centimeters in diameter, or less, even. Unfortunately, we can't do that with a Stargate, but, since each instance of parallel technological development we've seen has differences, there's a chance that this wormhole might have an adjustable event horizon diameter."

"That's not going to do any good. Everything we need is a lot bigger than that."

"Not if you beam it, Eli."

"You mean those transporters can go through a wormhole?"

"Well, not the ones we usually use. But, several years back, we ran into an Ancient beaming technology that beamed an entire laboratory through an open wormhole, from one planet to the next. We've been studying one of these devices for a few years, and I'm close to reverse-engineering it. If we can find this wormhole technology, figure out how to 'redial' along previously opened paths and the power source strong enough to open one in the first place, we can open a wormhole to the Milky Way, set up a 'redial' station at that end and here on Destiny, and then we could beam supplies through, even supplies that wouldn't normally fit through even a normal sized wormhole. We could beam entire ships from earth out to here."

Eli stared at her. "That's making a lot of assumptions, Colonel."

"None that I think are too unlikely. And please, call me Sam. You're not military; you don't have to do that whole 'Colonel' thing." Carter replied, opening the door to the communications lab. "I've seen a lot more unlikely things happen, Eli. Like a wormhole capable of traversing the galaxy forming right in front of me with only a relatively small amount of power." she continued.

Eli nodded. "Okay, Sam." he said, then walked over to the communications stones. A moment later, he found himself back on Earth. He looked over at Colonel Carter and smiled, then got up and headed out. He'd decided to check in on his mom now that things on Destiny were stable for the time being.

When he went to General O'Neill to ask about it, though, the older man's face was overcome with a look of sorrow. Eli realized that this could only mean bad news.

"Is she . . . did it . . . when?" he stuttered.

O'Neill shook his head. "Not HIV or AIDS. A car accident, about a year ago. Drunk driver ran a red light. I'm sorry, Eli."

"Thank you, Colonel." Eli said, fighting back tears.

"I can arrange for you to visit her grave. It's my understanding that Sharon Walker visits her quite often. They became close friends over their shared situation, having someone they love stranded on the other side of the universe."

Eli shook his head. "That won't be necessary, Colonel. I'll head back to Destiny. I should get back to work."

"Don't cut yourself off from everyone around you, Eli. Don't wallow in your loss. It just drives everyone who wants to help you, who wants to be there for you, away. Try to open up to them when they're there."

Eli glared at the general. "I assume you've had experience losing a family member, General?"

"I have, Mr. Wallace. My son! My eight-year-old-son died in a freak accident that was my fault! And you want to know what happened? My reaction cost me my marriage and almost cost me my life!" he replied, looking somewhere between angry and ready to shoot Eli.

Eli wisely exited the room and returned to Destiny, managing to hold himself together long enough to swing by Brody's bar, swipe a bottle of 'shine, and head to a room that, over the five years he'd been alone, had become a lab of sorts. More of a workshop. He pulled up a set of schematics, opened the bottle, and proceeded to go over them several more times, wondering how well this technology would work. He had, after all, designed it with no particular expertise except for what he'd read in the database. And yet he thought he was qualified to design and build a holographic projector of reasonable size and functionality. So engrossed in his work was he that he only noticed Chloe when the door slid shut behind her. Glancing in her direction, he scowled.

"Figures my mind would choose you to comfort me. After all, I'm a 'good friend' and you feel obligated to return that level of emotion when you know damn well I want more, Halluci-Chloe! But no, you have to be fucking that military bastard Matthew fucking Scott! Goddamn assface needs to curl up in a ball and die!"

Chloe stood there, stunned for a few moments, then said, "I'm the real Chloe, Eli. Not a hallucination."

Eli cocked his head and eyed her warily, eyes narrowing to slits. "Prove it." he challenged, not particularly realizing that he may have really screwed things up between them when he thought he was talking to a hallucination.

The sound and sensation of Chloe's hand slapping his cheek with enough force to knock him off his seat and land him on the floor was proof enough. "Ow. Damn, I guess you're real." he said, rubbing his cheek as he got up.

"You're damn right I'm real, Eli! And I'm worried about you! Genuinely worried, not checking in on you out of some obligation to do so!" she said.

Eli nodded. "I'm sorry, Chloe, for saying that. It's just . . . I'm under a lot of stress, and we all know that that can exacerbate mental issues."

"Tell me about it. I'm pretty sure we're all under a lot of stress." Chloe said, sitting down next to him and reaching for the bottle. "May I?" she asked.

"Be my guest." Eli replied.

Chloe took the bottle and took a drink. "You know, eventually, you stop realizing how horrible this actually tastes." she said.

Eli nodded. "Or it's been getting better." he said.

Chloe smiled. "True. Brody has been improving."

"Actually, that's one of my batches in that bottle."

"Well, you're quite the brewer, then, Eli."

"Thank you."

"So, Eli, what's bothering you?"

"My mom was killed in a car crash a year ago, and I just found out about an hour ago."

"Eli, I'm so sorry to hear that. You know I'm here if you ever need someone to talk to about it."

"Thanks for that, Chloe, and I'm sure I'll take you up on it later, but, right now, I'm drowning myself in work to stave off the grief."

"Okay. What are you working on?"

"Holographic projectors that can interface with Destiny's neural interface and allow Ginn and Doctor Perry to have physical bodies, after a fashion. Like the Doctor from Star Trek."

"How's that going for you?"

"I've got the design, but not all materials. I'm waiting for some of the supplies from the planet. We need to use the mineral purifier/refining system that we used to refine the palladium hydride ore to refine the ores the maintenance bots are digging up, and then I can get to work properly."

"I see. Well, remember, Eli, if you ever need to talk, I'm here. And, if you wouldn't mind, lay off Matt, okay? It seems like you're picking on him." Chloe said, standing up to leave.

"I'll think about it." Eli replied noncommittally.

"Thank you." Chloe replied, leaning down, hugging Eli, and kissing him on the cheek. "Take care, Math Boy." she said.

"You too, Former Hot Alien Babe." Eli murmured.

"What?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all." Eli replied quickly.

Chloe nodded, frowning. "Okay, Eli. I guess I'll see you around, then." she said, leaving the room. Eli smiled as she left.

The first thing Chloe did was go to Colonel Young and let him know about Eli's loss. Young nodded. "I'll let TJ know she may be doing some grief counseling." he said, mentally wondering if the universe wanted to make things difficult for them. Eli was already relatively unstable. This might end up pushing him over the edge in time.

* * *

><p>When Carter returned to the ship a few hours later, she had a new set of orders, courtesy of General O'Neill, and needed to enlist the help of a few personnel on Destiny. Speaking to Adam Brody first, she got confirmation that he could have the necessary items machined in a few hours. She thanked him for his assistance, then went on to the next few people, who all agreed to help her out, spread the word, and to keep Colonel Young off the trail. She sighed with relief when it was done. All that was out of the way. Now, she could get back to work.<p>

A short time later, she ran into Eli in the mess hall, and smiled. He smiled back, though it was a wan smile, and he seemed preoccupied.

"So, Sam, how are things?" he asked, sitting down next to her.

"Good, thank you for asking. I've verified that we're almost ready to start fabricating the transporters. If we find this wormhole generator and acquire it, I'll see if we can send a unit to Destiny ASAP." she said.

"How's that going, by the way? The tracing program, I mean?"

"I think I'm close to figuring it out. We're almost ready to run it. In fact, I was just going to head up there after I finish eating and make a few final checks on it. I'm just having a little trouble with fine-tuning the sensor calibration. I'll turn the sensors at what's left of the opening that the probe came through, but the sensors bleed into subspace and the signal diffuses."

"Too much interference, in other words. Have you considered rerouting power into the sensor array you're using, narrow the detection range down to just that of the subspace corridor, and see if the increased sensitivity to that range and the decreased sensitivity to the interference allows for a more penetrating scan?"

Sam smiled. "That's genius, Eli. It might actually work. Take any other readings out of the equation and boost the ability to perceive the reading we want."

"Exactly." Eli said.

* * *

><p>An hour later, they brought the program online, and started looking for the other end of the wormhole. "It'll probably take a while to backtrack all the way to the source, triangulate against known stellar cartographic readings, and tell us where it is." Eli said. Just then, a beep sounded.<p>

"Or it'll take less than thirty seconds." Carter said.

Eli didn't answer; he was checking the result. His face paled, his eyes widened, and his jaw dropped.

"What is it, Eli?"

"This isn't possible. This just isn't possible. We should be reading something there."

"What is it, Eli?" Carter asked.

Eli turned to look at her. "Two hundred light years in front of us. Two hundred light years right in front of us! We should have registered something there! The wormhole's origin point is two hundred light years in front of us! Even if it was constructed last year, we should have been able to pick up the signature. I mean, we can detect alien drone ships and Stargates at more than twenty times that distance! And we can't detect something well within that range!"

Carter watched Eli freak out, then spoke. "Right in front of us?"

"Yes! If we let this ship keep going, we'll fly right into the source, which, I almost forgot to mention, is exactly where, ages ago, when the seed ships first mapped this region, they detected a star system with three habitable planets and planted a gate. A gate which is no longer registering, and neither is anything else where that star system should be.."

"What if the source moved, Eli?"

That stopped Eli in his tracks, but only for a moment. "Possible, but not an explanation. We should still have detected something at that range."

"Okay, well, that probe had a distortion field around it, correct? What if the source of the wormholes has the same kind of shielding?"

"That . . . actually makes a lot of sense." Eli said.

"Well, then, we should go present our findings to Colonel Young." Sam said.

Eli nodded. "Probably."

They headed off to find the Colonel and speak to him about their discovery.

* * *

><p>"You're sure?" Young asked.<p>

"Yes, Colonel." Eli replied.

"Right in our path?" Rush asked.

"Yes, Doctor Rush." Carter replied.

"We'll reach it in about two weeks, once we get moving again." Eli said. "Until then, well, we don't really have that much to do on here relating to that particular matter. I'm still going to be working on that probe, figuring out what I can. Maybe I'll be able to figure out something that could help us with this eventual encounter by then."

"Let's hope so. After all, we have no idea how advanced these people might be or even if they're friendly." Young said.

* * *

><p>Eli, after checking in on the progress of the program to extract Ginn and Amanda, decided to head down to the the exercise room for a while. He was surprised to see Varro there. The former Lucian Alliance member was observing the makeshift punching bag Eli had rigged up.<p>

"You like it? It's a punching bag, although you can kick it and headbutt it as well." Eli said.

"What's it for, though?"

"Practicing. Unfortunately, it doesn't make for a good sparring partner because it can't punch back, give you the full defensive experience. It's also amazing for working out anger and frustration because you can just pound on it all damn day."

Varro nodded. "I see. I prefer live sparring partners, myself. There's something more . . . fulfilling about it when you have to defend, and when you actually see the results your blows are achieving. And a live opponent can give you criticism."

"I've got some free time, you know. If you want, I'll take you on, right here, right now."

Varro nodded. "Sounds good to me."

The two of them stepped over to a padded mat that Eli had made out of a combination of plants and other materials. They agreed on a countdown to start, and then went to opposite sides of the mat. They turned, and counted down from five.

Eli started things, moving in for a jab, feinting left, the striking out with his right hand, catching Varro in the gut. The older man grunted, then grabbed Eli's arm, twisted it and Eli so that he had Eli facing away from him, then jammed it up behind Eli's back, between his shoulder blades.

"You've got power, Eli, but your technique is sloppy and undisciplined." he said. Eli groaned, then struck out with his left leg, swinging it in such a way that he caught it behind Varro's knee, and yanked forward, throwing his weight back at the same time. Varro fell backwards, letting go of Eli's arm. Eli turned around, expecting to be able to catch Varro off guard, only to see the other man already getting to his feet. Varro struck out with a foot, Eli dodged, countered with his own kick, landed it against Varro's knee, yanked it back before Varro could grab it.

"You're underestimating your opponent, Varro. Self-taught isn't always inferior to professional training." He replied, then launched back into the fray. This went on for some time, with each of them managing to get the better of the other several times, never really keeping the advantage, although it was becoming clear after fifteen minutes without a break that they were getting tired. In the end, Varro floored Eli, landing a blow to his cheek that sent him staggering, then a kick to the chest that dropped him to the mat. Eli stayed on the ground for a few seconds, then said, "Okay, you win this round."

"Varro, how'd you like to help teach CQC training to anyone willing to learn?" Colonel Young asked. Eli looked at him, surprised.

"Colonel, when did you get here?" he asked.

"Five minutes ago. Came down to exercise, found you two duking it out."

"What's CQC?" Varro asked.

"Close quarters combat. I'm thinking about instituting a formal combat training program, and I like your style. You'd be teaching it alongside Lieutenant Scott and Sergeant Greer, of course."

Varro nodded. "I see. I'd like that."

"You're authorizing a fight club?" Eli asked.

"Why not? Helps blow off steam, gives people a chance to settle grudges and move on." Young replied.

"That . . . makes a lot of sense." Eli said, after a moment's thought.

"Well, anyway, Varro, if you're interested, get together with Scott and Greer, and you can coordinate your first session."

"I will."

* * *

><p>Eli approached TJ in the infirmary shortly afterward. She turned to him. "Anything I can help you with, Eli?" she asked.<p>

"Actually, TJ, I needed to speak with you." he said.

TJ smiled. "Your ALS cure, right? Do you need me to check some results, get people from Earth to double-check them?" she asked.

Eli shook his head, his face grim. "About your ALS, yes, but not my cure research."

"What else could there be to . . ." TJ caught on, and her face fell. "On Novus, it was five years before symptoms set in." she said wistfully. "How long do you think I have now?"

"I can't say for sure, but, given the data I had available to me, and the numerous computer-assisted calculations . . . Symptoms in six months, dead in four years, give or take a few months."

TJ visibly weakened, sighing. "You'll have a cure by then, right? You said you were close . . ."

"I am. I promise you, I'll have it ready before it's too late, TJ. I'm not going to let you die because of this." Eli said.

TJ nodded. "Thank you, Eli." A moment later, she spoke. "When you do get the cure . . . is there any way to apply it to my eggs, in case they have the mutation?"

Eli thought for a moment. "Well, that won't be necessary, really. I mean, we'll have the cure, and hopefully the genetic analysis technology to test people for it. So we can apply the cure on a case-by-case basis."

TJ nodded. "I see. And you're sure you'll have this technology?"

"I was able to get genetic scans of the entire crew, cross-reference with each other, pinpoint the gene in question, and identify the mutation. I'd say we'll have it." he said.

"Okay. Well, I've got some more work to get taken care of, if you're done."

"I am." Eli said, then turned and left.

TJ had thought she'd resigned herself to her fate, but, now that there seemed to be hope, she'd started to feel that hope. And now Eli told her they didn't have as much time to create the cure. After Eli left, she found herself fighting back tears.

* * *

><p>When Adam Brody approached Colonel Carter with the two items she'd requested, she smiled. "They're perfect. Thank you, Mr. Brody." she said. "Pass the word along that we're ready. Have everyone meet me in the gateroom in an hour, and keep it off the radios, in case Colonel Young's listening. Eli mentioned something about a kino communications system that's isolated from the radios. And have Lieutenant Scott go to the communications lab and switch with the general shortly before then."<p>

"Will do, ma'am." Brody said.

* * *

><p>An hour later, Colonel Young was in the dome, marveling yet again at how rich and prosperous Eli's care had made it. His radio beeped. "Colonel Young, this is Sergeant Greer."<p>

"Go ahead, Sergeant." Young said, tapping the button.

We have a situation in the gate room. You should get down here quick, Sir. Things might be getting out of hand real quick."

"I'm on my way." Young said, immediately heading for the door. He found himself racing through the halls, wondering what could have happened. Had someone gone off the deep end? Was Rush pulling some insane stunt? Was Eli? Was it another mutiny, somehow?

He almost slammed his hand into the gateroom door's console, then rushed in. "What's the situation, Sergeant?" he asked Greer, then looked around. Practically the entire crew was gathered in the room, and Lieutenant Scott was standing at the center of the group.

"Well, sir, seems the brass back on Earth think their should be a change in the status quo on this ship." Greer said.

"You're removing me from command, is that it? Telford's behind this, isn't he? Rat bastard can't keep his nose out of things here."

"Not at all, Colonel. Far from it, in fact. We want you to stay in command of Destiny." Scott said, and Young looked at him.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"That's no way to speak to the head of Homeworld Command, Everett." Jack O'Neill said.

"General O'Neill? Why are you here?"

"To pin a couple of fancy stars on your shoulders." Jack said, stepping forward, taking the two stars from the box Brody held, unpinning the eagles from Young's epaulets, and replacing them with the stars.

"Colonel Everett Young, for bravery and sacrifice above and beyond the call of duty, you are hereby promoted to the rank of Brigadier General." Jack said, then stepped back, snapped to attention, and saluted, as did everyone else in the room.

Jack then extended a hand. "Let me be the first to congratulate you, General Young." O'Neill said.

Young snapped to attention, saluted, and then shook O'Neill's hand. "Thank you, sir." he said.

"You're welcome, Everett. Now, I've got to get back to earth. Enjoy the celebration." O'Neill said, heading off to presumably switch back.

"What celebration?" Young asked, confused.

"The one that is going to in Brody's bar for whoever is interested now that you've officially been promoted." Rush answered in O'Neill's stead. "Eli plans to unveil his latest alcoholic concoctions, and I have every intention of sampling them."

"I see. I just have one question. How?"

"Colonel Carter was given orders to arrange events and keep you in the dark until the time came. To my understanding, General O'Neill wanted to surprise you."

"Well, you did more than that. Who's idea was it to go out of your way to mislead me into thinking it was some crisis, like a mutiny?"

"Mr. Wallace, actually. Said that it would make the satisfaction and pride in your promotion all the more intense if you thought it was going to be something bad first." Rush replied.

"I see. Hey, Eli, get over here!" Young called, motioning for the scientist to come over. Eli walked over.

"What is it, General? Can I help you with something"

"Never do something like this again. I was expecting that I'd have to deal with a mutiny, thanks to your scheme."

"Yes, General." Eli said.

"Good. Now, let's get down to Brody's. I hear you have more alcohol to unveil."

"I do. Right this way, General." Eli said.

* * *

><p>Several hours and the general dispersal of the partying personnel later, Eli was sitting in an unused storage room with Dale Volker, commiserating with him over romance while taking drinks from one of several bottles in Eli's personal secret stash.<p>

"Dude, let's face it. they're never going to go for us as long as they have their perfect military studs to wake up next to." Eli said. "I want Chloe, you want Lisa, and they each want one of the General's Golden Boys."

"I know, but I have to keep hoping. I mean, if I resign myself to the fact that Lisa likes Greer and will probably end up with him, then, well, that's giving up hope, and after everything we've been through, giving up hope seems really stupid."

"Yeah, but, again, as long as the military-grade stallions are out in the pasture with those hot, wonderful ladies, us civilian-grade stallions don't measure up."

Just then, the door opened, and a clearly-quite-tipsy Lieutenant James stumbled in. "Oh, I'm sorry, you two. I didn't know this area was occupied." she apologized.

"It's no big deal. What're you looking for?" Eli asked.

"A place to get away from Chloe and Lieutenant Scott. Those two were really getting into each other, and I couldn't stand it anymore." she said.

"You're more than welcome to stay here and lament about your love life with us." Eli said.

"Is that what you two are doing?"

"Yeah. You see, I like Chloe, but she likes Lieutenant Scott, and Volker here likes Dr. Park, but she's involved with Greer, and now we have you. Let me guess your unrequited love: Lieutenant Scott, but he likes Chloe." Eli said.

"Yeah, something . . . something like that." she slurred.

Eli offered her the bottle. She accepted graciously. They ended up talking for another hour, coming up with numerous plots to break their love interests up from the undesired significant others, before dispersing and going to bed.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Eli and Rush resumed progress on the program to bring Ginn and Amanda out, having paused it the night before so that the two disoriented women wouldn't show up when everyone was drunk and be even more disoriented.<p>

"Five more minutes, Rush. Five more minutes, and they'll be out of there. Let's hope that the restoration protocol worked properly. Otherwise, we'll have two women who have gone mad from total sensory deprivation." he said. "And, honestly, I'd prefer to take my chances with an unprotected spacewalk than deal with that."

"You've only yourself to blame." Rush replied.

"Saved your sorry ass, didn't I?" Eli retorted. "Although, sometimes, like right now, I wish I hadn't."

That shut Rush up.

When the program showed that it was ready, Eli looked at Rush. "Moment of truth." he said.

Rush nodded. "Aye. Moment of truth. Do it, Eli."

Eli hit the button. A few moments later, after nothing appeared to happen, Rush glanced at him.

"Did it work?"

"Yes. I'm reading them in the main memory space. They're out, the interface is online." he said. "Ginn, Amanda, are either of you there?"

Rush joined in. "Mandy, are you there?"

A moment later, two figures appeared, one a redhead, the other a brunette. "How long were we in there, Eli?" Ginn asked.

Eli looked down. "Over five years." He said quietly.

"Five years? But it didn't feel like too long at all."

"That's because I ran a program to correct any sensory-deprivation-related issues, which effectively erased your memories of five years of isolation." Eli said.

"Now, you two, we have quite a lot of catching up to do to get you up to date on the issues at hand." Rush said. "Shall we begin?"


	7. Through the Looking Glass

Stargate Universe: Season 3: On The Other Side

Disclaimer: SGU is not mine. End of story.

A/N:This chapter is the first update to this story of the new year and also the beginning of at least a three-chapter story arc that will explore some very interesting possibilities and may change the status quo.

Chapter 7: Through The Looking Glass

After bringing Ginn and Amanda up to speed on the situation, Eli and Rush left to give the two time to process everything. The two scientists were walking towards Eli's workshop, Eli having told Rush about his holographic idea.

"That's all well and good, Eli, but did you ever stop to consider that the majority of holographic technology is insubstantial?"

"We're breaking the laws of physics every time we turn on the Faster-Than-Light engine. I'm fairly certain it would be easy enough to create a solid-state hologram and link that solid-state hologram into the ship's systems so that Amanda and Ginn can project themselves as solid holograms. And think about it: Attach a holoemitter to a kino, add a program, and you have someone who can work in inhospitable environments, such as areas of this ship exposed to vacuum."

"The Ancients did have technology of that sort, Eli, but even on Earth, we're a ways away from cracking it." Rush said. "I highly doubt that we'l be able to achieve something of that magnitude here."

"The database contains information on holographic systems, including hypothetical calculations for a solid-state holographic emitter. Like I said, I've already got the schematics drawn up as well."

"I see. And do you have all of the materials you'll need?"

"Not all of the components, but I've got all the raw materials I'll need to fabricate them, along with the energy weapons I found the designs for. I think I can have a prototype design up and running in a couple of months. If I keep working with people from Earth, I think we could reduce that time significantly." he said.

"Good work, Eli." Rush said. "Anyway, I was wondering if you'd done any work on the engines? Or the weapons? Even if only theoretical."

"Maybe I have, maybe I haven't." Eli said, being decidedly unhelpful.

"Eli, why do you want to be uncooperative? I'm asking for the sake of the big picture, and the comfort of the crew."

"Rush, look, I've had six years to learn this ship; you've only had one. I think it's safe to say I've earned the right to be a little secretive for once. But you can't handle that, can you? The way you see it, if anyone besides you is keeping secrets, that's horrible, but you keeping them is fine. Well, get your perspective adjusted, because I'm the one being secretive, manipulative, and, quite frankly, a total ass for once." the younger scientist said.

Rush huffed. "Eli, can't you let the past go? I did what I thought was the right thing at the time."

"No, you didn't. The 'right thing' would have been to let us know immediately about the bridge, about the mission, about breaking the code. You selfishly kept it secret, thinking you could handle things, when you really couldn't! You're the reason Riley's dead! You should have told us after your selfish, misguided, messianic idiocy killed one of the best men on this ship!" Eli yelled. "When will you see that you're so caught up in your own agenda and self-denial that you're willing to foolishly risk lives to have a chance at getting Gloria back? But part of you wants to move on; you just won't admit it, because that means truly letting her go. That's why Amanda's simulation exit parameters didn't work: You didn't love her enough to overcome the part of you that didn't want to move forward with your life."

"I had to relive watching my wife die, Eli! Tell me that reliving the worst experience of your life wouldn't cause you problems for quite some time!"

"I relive it every day, Rush! Every goddamned day, every goddamned night, I see us walking into Ginn's quarters and finding her lifeless body there! Every day, I wish I was the one who killed Simeon! Every day, I envy you for being the one to kill him!" Eli yelled.

"You really think that made things better, Eli? It didn't! It made me feel better, yes, but it didn't bring Amanda back; it didn't change the past. It didn't undo what that monster did. It couldn't."

Eli nodded. "But you still got to be the one to give him what he deserved."

"No, Eli. He deserved a much slower, more painful death than what I gave him. Many, many times more slow and painful. If anything, I showed him mercy he didn't deserve."

Eli couldn't help but smile at that. "Next time someone kills our romantic interests, I get to kill them. I've had five years to think of slow, agonizing ways to kill people. Deal?" he said, extending a hand.

Rush grinned, and took the hand. "Deal. Next time, you can be the executioner, and I'll be the bitter, angry one who wishes he could have."

"Aren't you already bitter and angry?" Eli asked.

"Ah, shut up, you madman." Rush said gruffly.

It was weird, how quickly the tension had drained out of the room after Eli called dibs on being executioner should people they loved be killed again.

When they reached Eli's workshop, Rush was surprised to see just how much stuff Eli had lying around. "How many projects were you working on in here?" he asked.

Eli shrugged. "More than I care to count. Anything that I needed a bit more room for than there was in the shuttle, I did in here. It helped that I had six spacesuits available to use."

Rush nodded, then something about Eli's statement clicked, and he glanced over at the younger scientist. "Six spacesuits? We only have three; we failed to recover the three from the alternate Destiny. Unless . . . You bloody _LIAR_! You duplicated the ship, didn't you? What did you do to the duplicate versions of us? Kill them, strand them?"

Eli looked at Rush, then shook his head. "Paranoid, much? I didn't do anything like that, Rush. Don't you remember? We found several other suits as well, just in very bad condition. I managed to repair three more by cannibalizing the rest."

Rush nodded hesitantly. "Considering everything else you've done, I'm inclined to believe you." he said.

Eli nodded. "Good." he said.

"So, what kinds of projects have you been working on in here?"

"Well, let's just say that things aren't going to be so tough anymore." Eli said.

"Can you get more cryptic?" Rush asked.

"I can try."

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, in the gateroom, Ronald Greer was on 'guard duty,' which, in the gateroom on Destiny, was about the same as saying 'I'm going to go sit around and take an easy shift off playing cards with some others.' He was just explaining how to play Texas Hold 'Em when the familiar sight and sound of the gate activating caught his attention. He was on his feet, gun in hand, and radioing for backup in a matter of seconds. The rest of the team scrambled to position, and Greer was already taking aim at the gate when the first figures came through. The first thing Greer registered was that they were human. The second thing was that they had weapons, and the third was that they looked around, confused, as though they weren't expecting to be where they were.<p>

"Put the weapons down!" Greer barked.

The lead figure spoke. "What the devil . . .? Where are we?" in a familiar voice. Greer, however, was not noticing that at the moment, too concerned with the safety of the ship.

"Don't make me ask you again! Put the weapons down! Hands in the air!" Greer barked.

The lead figure looked at the others and nodded. "Stand down." He said, then looked at Greer. "Don't shoot! We don't want trouble! See, we're listening to you, we're cooperating." he said, bending down, placing his weapon on the ground, and kicking it over, then putting his hands up in the air as the others followed suit.

It was then that Greer realized why the figures looked so familiar: They were. Most of them, anyway. The leader was Nicholas Rush, and he was accompanied by Varro, Lieutenant Scott, Ginn, Sergeant Hunter Riley, and a woman he didn't recognize. All these people were laden with gear, Varro and Scott carrying a large case between them.

"Who the hell are you people?" he asked.

The gateroom door slid open just then, and General Young, Lieutenants Scott and James, and a few airmen walked in, weapons ready. However, they stopped in their tracks as soon as they saw who was standing before them. Mainly because two of the people were long-dead, and the others were present and accounted for, except for the woman, who none of those present recognized, and for good reason.

The one who appeared to be Doctor Rush spoke. "My name is Doctor Nicholas Rush. This is Colonel Scott, Sergeant Riley, Ginn, Varro, and-"

At that moment, Doctor Rush's voice came over the kino hovering nearby. "Doctor Amanda Perry. From an alternate universe, one where she was either never paralyzed or was somehow healed. Also, I'm guessing that Earth found a way to dial Destiny, given that she's here in person and not via stone."

"I was going to say the same thing." Alternate-Rush said.

"Is that even possible?" Greer asked.

"Entirely. In fact, the SGC dealt with an incident several years ago where an alternate universe version of SG-1 used a black hole and the Stargate to breach the barrier between realities to attempt to steal Atlantis' ZPM. Of course, that incident also resulted in over a dozen alternate reality versions being dumped into our universe as well."

"Which makes me wonder what you all are doing here." Young said.

"I assure you, Colonel Young, our presence here, in this universe, is entirely accidental. We were attempting to perform an experiment to see if we could use a black hole to power the Stargate for a nine-chevron address, similar to the Ori supergates. Clearly, our calculations must have been off and somehow ended up landing us here." Alternate-Rush said.

Young nodded. "I see. Well, I hope you'll understand that, after everything we've been through, I'm not particularly willing to take chances. Scott, Greer, James, everyone, take our guests to a holding room. I'm going to check in with Earth and advise them about this." He said.

Alternate-Rush nodded. "I understand, Colonel Young. We've had more than our share of hell on our side as well. I'd probably do the same thing if I was in your shoes." he said, then looked at everyone on his team. "Let's not make this difficult for them; they're just being cautious, as we all know." With that, they were escorted out of the gateroom.

Before they left, Young called after Alternate-Rush, "It's General Young in this universe." After that, Young looked at the kino. "Rush, get to the bridge and let me know if you can detect any kind of spatial disturbance that could corroborate their claim."

"I'm already there. Eli routed the kino controls from his room to here, along with the video. I was going over some simulations. I'll start going over the sensor logs right away."

"Good. Let me know what you find." Young said.

A short time later, when General Young reached the communications lab, he walked over to the console, turned it on, touched the stone, and waited. However, he found himself still on Destiny, and frowned, then tried it again. The same result. "Young to Rush. Get someone over here to check on the stones; they don't seem to be working."

"Ah, General Young, I was just about to contact you. It's not surprising to me that the stones aren't working; the sensors are picking up a severe subspace distortion emanating from a black hole about a dozen light-years off our bow. And these aren't just the normal effects of a black hole, either. The distortion could very well be interfering with the stones, jamming the signal, for lack of a better term. And it also supports the theory of a rip in space-time through a black hole."

"So their story is true."

"At the very least, it's highly credible." Rush said.

"Can you jump us clear of the interference? Get us out of range?"

"Not likely; we're well within the affected area, and the distortion appears to be generating subspace gravity eddies that, at best, would knock the ship out of FTL before we could get very far."

"How is that possible? The ship travels through normal space."

"By itself, subspace doesn't have a significant effect on normal space. However, these gravity waves appear to breach into normal space essentially at random."

"What about sublight?"

"It could take us weeks to get far enough away to jump, General, and that's assuming a gravity eddy doesn't pull us further in."

"Plot a course in sublight, but keep us here until we're finished with the resupplying. Anyway, since we're unable to contact Earth for the time being, I think we should go talk to our guests."

"I agree, General." Rush said.

* * *

><p>"Colonel Matthew Scott, eh? Got a promotion in your universe?" Young asked Alternate-Scott.<p>

"Only because you were executed during the second Lucian Alliance attack on Destiny, sir."

"A second attack? In this universe, we only had one."

"Well, sir, you guys got off easy, then. We lost a lot of good people before we beat them back. Yourself, Greer, Volker, Telford, and others."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Now, please tell me a little bit more about your universe."

"Well, after we convinced Langara to let us use their gate, we were able to receive supplies and personnel, albeit only once, because Langara didn't want to take the chance that repeated dialing would put the planet at further risk. The Lucian Alliance attacked Langara shortly afterward, using it to send an army through the gate. The planet was, however, destroyed in the process."

"I see. What about the drone ships? Did you encounter those in your universe?"

"You mean the ones that target all technology besides their own?"

"Yes."

"They blockaded every star Destiny could feasibly recharge in along the path. We had to recharge in a blue supergiant, which nearly killed Doctor Park. After that, we were out of options until Eli suggested going off the path."

"I see. We considered the same thing, except for the fact that there was no way of knowing if we'd be able to resupply."

"Well, we took that risk. The only other alternative, using the stasis chambers, was regarded as requiring too high of a cost; while there were enough stasis chambers for everyone and then some, a number of them were too heavily damaged. 60 people would have to have been left to die."

"60?"

"We have a total compliment of about 200 people onboard our Destiny. There are enough pods for over 400 people, spread throughout the ship in clusters to minimize the chance that damage could occur to all of them. Unfortunately, Destiny had sustained heavy damage to most of these clusters, leaving only a total of 140 pods operational. Sixty people, Colonel. I made the call that we take our chances off the path, rather than kill 60 good men and women."

"400? We only know of about 70."

"So did we, until Eli hacked the restricted database portions."

"I see. And what did Earth think of going off the path?"

"Sir, we haven't been in contact with Earth for over five years; the Lucian Alliance destroyed our communications stones."

Young nodded, sitting down. "Tell me more." he said.

Meanwhile, in another room, Camille Wray was talking to Alternate-Amanda. "So, you're not in a wheelchair." she said, not really sure about where to begin.

"Until about five-and-a-half years ago, I was. Then I was permitted to use a Goa'uld sarcophagus that Earth had captured. It restored my ability to use my body, and I requested and was granted permission to join the Destiny expedition."

"In our universe, you and Ginn were killed by Simeon while you used the communications stones to switch places with her so she could speak with people on Earth."

"I'm not surprised. If we're thinking about the same incident, it was a close call for me, and it stands to reason that, in some alternate universes, we weren't so lucky. Simeon came into my room, had his hands around my throat, when Eli arrived in the nick of time. He saw what was going on, attacked Simeon, distracting him, and I managed to call for help. Simeon was subdued and imprisoned. I owe Eli my life."

* * *

><p>The interviews went on for some time, and, when they were finished, Young gathered Rush, Eli, Scott, Camille, and the rest of what he was beginning to think of as the senior staff.<p>

"After talking to our guests at length, I am satisfied that they're the victims of an accident that stranded them here. Until we can find a way to send them back, I'm giving them almost-free reign of the ship. On the bridge and near the engines, however, are going to be off-limits without an escort. Rush, Eli, how are you doing on figuring out what happened and how to send them back?"

"No luck figuring out how to send them back, yet. The obvious route of dialing back through the black hole failed. From what we can tell, the energy of the distortions is mono-directional; all the effects appear to be emanating outward from the black hole, not flowing inward, which in itself is unusual." Rush said. "If I'd have to guess, I'd say that whatever method they were using to try to harness the black hole's energy, it ended up creating an artificial inter-universal wormhole, one which is still open."

Amanda and Ginn appeared. "It stands to reason, based on our analysis of the data and our understanding of the previous time something like this occurred, that it is possible to reverse the rift. However, the question of 'how do we do that?' remains." Amanda said.

Eli nodded. "We're going to keep working on it, and hopefully find the answer soon. From what Rush has told me, there's a chance that, if their reality and ours are 'far enough' apart from each other, something he called 'Entropic Cascade Failure' could set in at any time."

"That is correct. Entropic cascade failure occurs when an individual from one universe spends too much time in another universe where there is a living duplicate of themselves. So, for the Sergeant Riley, Ginn, and Doctor Perry of the alternate universe, there is no real danger. At least, there shouldn't be." Rush clarified.

"How can you be sure about Ginn and Amanda? They exist, at the very least, in this universe." Eli asked pointedly.

"I'm not sure, but I have me suspicions." Rush replied.

"Well, moving on, we have the issue of whether or not gate travel is safe."

"It doesn't appear to be affected; all teams that have returned through the gate are ours, and the kino we sent through from here arrived at the proper destination. Brody was going to retrieve it, but apparently the alternates are expecting that their Destiny will attempt to contact them soon, since they missed their check-in." Eli said.

"How could they check in? Earth doesn't have a way of dialing Destiny or contacting the Expedition at all in that universe; the alternate Destiny's communications stones were destroyed by the Lucian Alliance." Young said.

"That large crate they came through with apparently contains one of the devices they used to tap into the black hole as part of their attempt to dial earth. They planned to hook it up to to a Stargate already near a black hole, the one they dialed into from Pegasus and jumped to the Ori Supergate, and essentially dial Destiny the same way they dialed Earth." Rush said.

"I see. Well, that's all, everyone. Let's get back to work and figuring out how to get those people back home."

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, in the gate room, Alternate-Scott stood next to Greer, who was alert and focused on making sure Alternate-Scott didn't try anything.<p>

"They should dial in any minute now. They'll either send a Kino or attempt radio contact." he said. "SOP for these kinds of situations."

"I know the SOP. It's not that different between our realities." Greer said.

At that moment, the gate lit up and started spinning. When the wormhole opened, Greer and the rest of the security team focused their weapons on the gate. Alternate-Scott was already on the radio, though. "Destiny, this is Colonel Scott. We are alive and unharmed. The experiment failed; we did not reach Earth; we breached into a parallel universe and are stranded here for the time being. Recommend you disengage all equipment regarding the experiment and do not send anyone else through. Do you copy?"

"Negative . . . We've got . . . interference . . . Please repeat." The voice belonged to an Alternate Vanessa James.

"Shut down the experiment's equipment; it failed. We're stranded in an alternate universe. Do not send anyone else through, or they'll be stranded like we are."

"Too much interfer . . . Colonel. You're break . . . up."

"Suspend all gate travel. We're fine, but send anyone through to here and they'll be stranded in this alternate universe as well."

Before he could get any kind of confirmation, the gate's event horizon flashed, and then shut down.

"Dammit!" Alternate-Scott cursed.

"You tried, Colonel. That's what counts. Maybe they'll try again, and you can try to warn them." Greer said.

"Maybe. Or maybe they'll send an armed team through to check on us before I can let them know we're fine." Alternate-Scott said. "I hope we find a way back, though. I mean, from what I've seen, you guys are a lot better off than we are, but it just wouldn't be the same."

* * *

><p>On the alternate Destiny, Major Vanessa James stood in front of the gateroom, smiling, but only half-heartedly. "They're on track and haven't been found out." she said to her universe's Camille Wray, who had joined her in the gateroom.<p>

"Why do you do this to yourself, Vanessa? You stand here and barely move every time Varro goes through that gate for these."

"Because I don't know if he'll come back alive or at all. I worry about my husband as much as Eli worries about Ginn and Chloe worries about Matt."

"I worry about them, too, Vanessa. But we can't help them right now. They know the risks, and they take them without hesitating."

"Only because you and Rush make them choose either following your schemes or being stranded on an uninhabitable planet without a remote." Vanessa said harshly.

"We do the best we can. We do what we have to to survive."

"Six times, Camille. This is the sixth time you and Rush have ordered this stunt. Six times, you've gone along with his insanity. Five times, we've succeeded and made it through the barrier between universes. Five times, we've condemned ourselves to being killed or stranded on some rock. The more you do it, the greater the chance of some fatal mistake happening."

"But the more we do it, the more experience we gain with making it work."

"What if one of them slips up? They're liable to get killed."

"Nothing fatal will happen, Vanessa. We'll succeed, and they'll come back here alive and well, and we'll make it to another day."

"You've never been through it, Camille. Seeing what we've seen on these excursions . . . you've never had to shoot someone who looks exactly like you or someone you care about. You've never had to see their faces when they find out how we're dooming them to save ourselves. You don't know what it's like, what thoughts it starts bringing up."

"I know that no one's objected to surviving. And you know the policy. Rush was specific on that. No one dies unless they resist. And we do leave them on planets that are entirely habitable. Now, go get some rest. I'll let you know if anything happens.

Vanessa nodded, then hit the 'transmit' button on her radio. "Beta team, get ready to move out. You're up in ten." She switched to Destiny's internal communications system, and spoke. "All personnel, I'm going to my quarters to get some sleep. Mrs. Wray is in charge while I'm off-duty." she said, then exited the gateroom.

Elsewhere on this alternate Destiny, Tamara Johansen was staring at the lone stasis pod in use, that had been in use since Rush had seized control. Had its occupant been allowed to age normally, Carmen Faith Johansen-Young would be about five-and-a-half. But Rush had pulled her from TJ's arms, left TJ restrained by Varro and another Lucian Alliance soldier, and locked the infant in a stasis pod. She would remain unharmed so long as TJ cooperated and did her job. Carmen had been about four months old, and, when you combined all the time that she had been taken out of stasis for TJ to spend with her, the girl had only aged a couple of weeks in over five years. The worst part of it, though, was the cast on Carmen's left arm, courtesy of that bastard Dannic, who didn't hesitate to take action if he didn't like something.

"I'm going to kill him." she resolved for the hundredth time, murmuring it under her breath for the hundredth time.

"Visiting hours are over." Adam Brody said, intruding on her thoughts from his position by the door.

TJ nodded. "I know. Just give me another minute, please."

Brody waved the sidearm he carried. "No can do, TJ. You know that Rush is strict on that. Just be glad I was on guard duty, and not one of Varro's Lucians. They'd probably be more than happy to graze you for just suggesting that you be allowed a little more time."

TJ nodded. "Okay." she said, tearing herself away from her child, frozen in stasis. She walked out of the room, resigning herself to having to wait for her revenge.

* * *

><p>Back in the 'main universe,' Eli and Doctor Rush were trying to figure out how to open the case that had been brought through with the alternate team in an attempt to verify its at Young's request. However, it was somehow locked shut with a mechanism that neither of them recognized.<p>

Rush asked the alternates about it, but they politely refused to help, citing as their reasoning that the odds were that Rush, Eli, and everyone else in this universe wouldn't be able to positively identify it anyway. Alternate-Rush relented when Eli pointed out that, if they wouldn't be able to positively identify it, then there really was no harm because, if it was something of malicious intent, they wouldn't know, and so any potentially malicious agenda would remain preserved.

He opened the case using what appeared to be a combination of a keypad, retinal, voice, and fingerprint locking systems, along with a more traditional key. It revealed a large, spherical object with a number of strange protrusions, including a small square that appeared to be some kind of control panel and a long, thick spike topped with a smaller sphere that had an indention in the end facing in the opposite direction of the larger sphere.

"How did you get this design?" Rush asked.

"An alien species we ran into off the path; they traded us their black hole energy tapping technology in exchange for genetic samples from everyone on the crew; they love their genetic research." Alternate-Rush said.

"I see."

* * *

><p>Young was heading to his quarters when Greer contacted him. "General, we just received more guests; a team sent through from the alternate universe to check things out."<p>

"On my way." Young said, sighing. He found himself silently wishing that Eli and Rush would figure out how to sort this mess out.


	8. The Looking Glass War

Stargate Universe: Season 3: On The Other Side

Disclaimer: I don't own SGU.

A/N: Please review. I put this story on here for your viewing pleasure, and would like to know what you think. Also, I would like to apologize in advance if this chapter seems a bit . . . rushed. I didn't want to make it an overly-long chapter, so I had to edit it and leave some of it on the cutting room floor. I will attempt to compensate for this in the next chapter, which will either be extra-long and wrap this up, or be normal length and go into a four-parter. Either way, the content will be largely the same and encompass largely the same events.

Chapter 8: The Looking-Glass War

When Young reached the gateroom, he was surprised to see that the team that had come through consisted of airmen, marines, and a few Lucian Alliance personnel. Then he realized he shouldn't have been; a second incursion by the Lucian Alliance in the parallel universe meant that, most likely, more Lucian Alliance personnel had been kept onboard.

Greer and Alternate-Scott had already explained everything to the new arrivals, so that made things a little easier. One thing that slightly unnerved him was the amount of firepower the second team had brought with them. A considerable amount of it was in the form of alien technology as well. However, it did make sense, in a way. If he just knew a team of people was alive, but didn't know their situation or their location, he'd have the rescue team ready for trouble. He laid down the same rules for free reign of the ship that he'd given the original group, with an added caveat: Their weapons were to be stored elsewhere, under armed guard. They grudgingly acquiesced after Alternate-Scott ordered them to treat the General as exactly that.

Alternate-Rush and the other alternates slowly dispersed among the crew and the ship, asking questions, satisfying their curiosity about this alternate universe, maintaining the illusion that they were stranded. Of course, that couldn't be further from the truth. They had a way back. They'd brought it through on the first trip. And they were, unfortunately, on a timetable. In less than two hours, they would make their move.

These thoughts circulated through Alternate-Ginn's mind as she walked onto the observation deck where Eli was. He turned toward her when he heard the door open, and smiled.

"Ginn, it's good to see you."

She nodded. "And you. You know the Eli in my universe isn't quite as in shape."

"Ginn, can I ask you a question?"

"Go ahead."

"Is this all a hallucination Destiny's generating?"

"If it was, could I do this?" she answered, taking his hand in hers. Eli smiled.

"Okay, that's real." he said. "And I have another question."

"Ask away, Eli."

"In your universe, are you and I . . . together?"

Alternate-Ginn chuckled lightly. "We are." she answered. "And we're married, at least in the eyes of everyone in the crew. We've been trying to have kids, as well."

Eli smiled. "No luck?"

"Not yet. Although we all contribute to helping take care of Carmen, so we both have some parenting experience." Even as she said it, she felt uncomfortable lying to Eli, even though he wasn't _her_ Eli.

"Carmen? As in, TJ's baby?"

"More like five-year-old, but yes. Carmen Faith Johansen-Young. She's an adorable young girl."

"Does our TJ know?"

"I don't think so. Unless Varro tells her. They're married, in my universe."

"She's still alive? You cured her ALS?"

"Yes. We ran into the Novan evacuation ships and were given the full databases of both the Tenarans and Futurans. They had a cure." she said.

They talked like this for an-hour-and-a-half or more, and Alternate-Ginn found herself regretting what was to come. If this Eli acted like he had in the other universes, he would probably be killed while resisting.

When Alternate-Ginn left Eli, she contacted Alternate-Amanda, and the two of them met in the temporary quarters that General Young had assigned Ginn.

"I don't think I can do this." Alternate-Ginn said.

"I'm not sure, either. Maybe we should ask Rush if we can go back through, sit this one out."

"And the next one? And the one after that?" Ginn said.

"You're saying you don't think you can do this again?"

"Exactly. In fact, I think I might end up . . . changing sides."

"If Rush finds out you're planning anything like that, that you're even thinking about turning against him . . ."

"Three hours with Dannic and then getting left for dead on a godforsaken rock. I know." Ginn said. "But I can't help it . . . It's Eli. No matter what, it's still Eli getting killed." she said.

"Look, if you're planning anything . . . leave me out of it, Ginn. I won't suffer for your actions."

Alternate-Ginn nodded. "Okay. Do what you will; I'll do what I think is right." Alternate-Ginn said, then walked out, heading for the bridge.

While she was on her way there, however, she was intercepted by none other than Alternate-Rush. He smiled, but Alternate-Ginn could tell that there was no kindness in it, only the cold, calculating bastard who ran things with an iron fist. "Hello, Ginn."

"Hello, Doctor." She said uncomfortably.

"Going somewhere?" He asked.

"The bridge. After all, that's where I'm supposed to be, isn't it?"

Alternate-Rush nodded. "Of course. Don't let me stop you. Also, we have a bit of a problem. In this universe, yourself and Mandy are in the computer, and have access to the neural interface. The very interface that can give us away." he said. "Disable it or delete them while you're there."

"Yes, sir." she said, then hurried off. When she got to the bridge, she noticed that Eli was the only one present, but he appeared to be having a conversation with himself.

"Of course I trust them; why wouldn't I? I mean, they're all people we know, and one of them's you, only with a fully physical body, Ginn." he said. "And shut up, Halluci-Ginn! I am not going to do . . . that . . . to her.

"Oh, hello, Alternate-Ginn." He said. "Come in, come in."

"Am I interrupting anything?" she asked.

"No. Eli's just juggling a conversation between himself, one of the voices actually coming from his head, and one of the voices being put into his head by the computer." A voice that sounded exactly like hers said. She jumped about foot in the air, and turned to stare at herself. "What the . . . What's going on?"

"I'm this universe's Ginn. I was killed by Simeon, ended up getting stuck in Chloe's body for a bit, got downloaded into Destiny, and now manifest directly inside people's heads." Ginn said quickly. "Eli was talking to me and an actual hallucination his mind is generating."

Eli nodded. "It's alright, Alternate-Ginn. And I apologize for the prefix to your name, but it's the only real way to keep all these different manifestations of you separate when you're all together like this."

"I understand. Are you busy?"

"Not really. I was just going over some of the sensor data, running some calculations with the help of the lovely Ginn and Halluci-Ginn, and thinking about how to send you home."

Ginn spoke, staring intently at the alternate-Ginn. "Eli, why don't you go get something to eat?" she suggested.

Eli nodded. "Now that you mention it, I am feeling a little hungry." he said, walking off.

When he was gone and the door sealed, Ginn turned to glare at the Alternate-Ginn. "What are you hiding?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Alternate-Ginn said nervously.

"I'm integrated into the ship's neural interface. I can tell that there's something going on in all of your heads that isn't . . . right. That's what Eli and I were discussing. I don't trust you, even if you are me. And if you hurt Eli, I'll make sure you suffer." Ginn said.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"I'm a mental projection generated by a ship built millions of years ago by aliens who were actually the original humans. I think I'd believe anything." Ginn said.

Alternate-Ginn shook her head. "It's not going to matter in a few minutes, anyway." she said, going over to one of the consoles and typing in a code. "I'm sorry. Really, I am. But I can't let you go any further with this."

"What are you doing?" Ginn asked, vanishing a moment later as Alternate-Ginn disabled the ship's neural interface.

Alternate-Ginn sighed, then shook her head and went to work. But not before contacting Eli and telling him to get to the bridge ASAP. She was going to do her job, but she was also going to give this universe a chance at resisting.

When Eli got there, with less than five minutes remaining until they made their move, she smiled at him.

"Good. You're here."

"What is it, Alternate-Ginn?"

"Please, just call me Ginn. Your universe's version of me had to go take care of business elsewhere."

Eli nodded. "Okay, Ginn. What do you have?"

"Something you'll very much want to see." she said, pulling up live kino footage of Alternate-Rush in the chair room. As the kino image reached for his radio and spoke into it, Alternate-Ginn's crackled to life. "All personnel, get into position. T-Minus four minutes until we move."

Several voices said the same thing in reply, "Yes, sir."

Eli stared at her. "Ginn was right. What are you planning? How many lies have you told us?"

"We had no choice, Eli. Rush runs things in our universe, and the Lucian Alliance survivors back him up, along with a number of Earth personnel. We enter alternate realities, salvage everything we can from their ships, and leave the ones who don't resist on a habitable planet. Right now, Colonel Scott and some of the airmen, marines, and Lucian personnel are securing the gateroom, Rush is preparing to seize control of the ship's systems via the chair, Sergeant Riley is moving on the control interface room with a team to monitor from there, Amanda is supposed to be joining me here on the bridge to secure it, and Varro and a team are securing our weapons from where Young had them secured."

Eli shook his head, a look of disappointment in his eyes. "This whole thing was a setup? But that means . . . You have a way back?"

"The device we brought through. It isn't a black hole energy tap, although we did get it from some aliens. It can, in conjunction with a stargate's wormhole passing through a black hole, create a bridge between realities. It's also a transporter, so we can dematerialize objects larger than the gate, send the device through, and rematerialize them on the other side when we're done. It can also hold ten people, who will be rematerialized as part of the assault team. The gate will be used to provide support and, when the ship is seized, salvage assistance. But I'm done with that, Eli. I'm giving you a chance to fight. Help me isolate some of the systems from our Rush's control."

"We can't isolate them from the chair, but I did write a program that can essentially duplicate the controls, allowing full control of the ship from two separate locations. We can keep him fighting the system." Eli said, moving over to a console and rapidly typing in a series of commands, muttering to himself as he did so. "Alternate-Ginn, contact the General. Tell him everything you've told me. I'm assuming that you alternates all have your radios on a different channel than ours to avoid eavesdropping?"

"Yes." Alternate-Ginn said, then obeyed. Young's reaction was, predictably, one of outrage, but he managed to get it under control and began to organize resistance. Just then, Alternate-Amanda came onto the bridge, accompanied by Rush.

"Eli, we have a major problem." Rush began.

"I know. I just notified the General, and he's getting things organized." Eli said.

"So the alternate Ginn decided to defect as well?"

"Yes, I did." Alternate-Ginn replied, looking at Alternate-Amanda. "Good to see that you came around."

"You made a good point." Alternate-Amanda said.

"Enough chit-chat. We need to get things in order." Rush said.

"I've already duplicated the control systems so that we'll essentially be forcing Rush to fight us for control of the ship. We have full control, but so will he. It'll be a chess game." Eli said.

On the kino image, it showed Alternate-Rush sitting in the chair. Alternate-Ginn pulled up another series of images, showing the events going on with the other alternates. "It's going down." She said. "Let's hope we can win this."

"We will." Rush said. "For one thing, the alternates weren't expecting us to have any kind of warning. That means we have the true element of surprise. Coupled with the fact that we still have control of the ship, we have, if nothing else, a chance to deal some serious damage. In fact, Eli, seal the gateroom and vent its atmosphere when the full forces have arrived."

Eli nodded. "Will do."

"Please, don't!" Alternate-Ginn pleaded.

"Why not? You're attacking us. We have a right to defend ourselves." Rush pointed out.

"There's a difference between desperation and malice, Rush. We don't kill alternates unless it becomes necessary."

"Well, letting them live just increases the chances of success on their part." Eli pointed out.

"You know that our Rush is going to be fighting that." Alternate-Amanda said.

"Of course. We'll just have to fight harder, stay ahead of him." Eli said.

A moment later, the bridge doors opened up, and Sgt. Greer entered with a team. Guns pointed at the Alternate-Amanda and Alternate-Ginn, but Eli quickly defused that, revealing that they wouldn't know what was going on without the two women defecting.

Greer grudgingly lowered his gun. "Okay, but if either of you makes a wrong move, I'm not going to hesitate to shoot you." he said coldly.

"Understandable." Alternate-Amanda said.

Eli, who was monitoring the kino footage in the gateroom, looked at Rush. "Rush, take the controls. I've got something to do. Greer, you got an extra gun?"

"I can spare one." Greer replied, handing Eli his sidearm.

Rush smirked. "Simeon's alive in that universe, correct?"

"And he just set foot on our ship." Eli replied. "Let him get out, at least. This is between me and him. Unless you want a second shot at him?"

"I'm fine, Eli. It's your turn. Go." Rush said, moving to a console. Eli nodded, then departed.

"Eli, you need backup." Greer called.

"Rush finished him off just fine without it. I can manage." Eli replied.

Young's voice crackled over the radio. "Greer, are you at the bridge?"

"It's secure, sir. Our Rush is here. Eli just went after Simeon."

"What?"

"He's alive in that universe, and is on the assault team they sent through."

"Okay. I'm ordering all personnel who have an alternate version who's crossed over here to remain with someone who doesn't have an alternate here, just to avoid confusion and possible infiltration."

"Understood, sir. I'll keep an eye on Rush, give you updates on who's duplicates show up."

"Thank you, sergeant."

* * *

><p>Lieutenant Matthew Scott led a team towards the gateroom, under orders from General Young to cut it off from the rest of the ship and try to keep everyone from the alternate universe contained. If possible, they were to regain control of it. As they neared a corner, he heard the sounds of activity through a nearby doorway and quickly motioned for everyone on the team to flatten themselves against the wall. Rather than poke his head around the corner, he pulled out a kino remote and tapped into the kino feed from a nearby device that was essentially a 'security camera,' one of many throughout the ship. He frowned. The image showed Alternate-Varro leading a group of four or five Lucian Alliance personnel. Lieutenant Scott recognized the path they were taking. They were heading back toward the gateroom, and they were heavily armed; too heavily armed to take on in a fight without casualties. Airman Dunning looked at the image, then tapped a grenade and motioned to the corridor the Lucian personnel were coming through. Scott shook his head, and motioned for everyone to stay where they were until the enemy group was out of sight and sound range. Once they were clear, Scott motioned for them to begin moving again, and they did, slowly, silently advancing.<p>

* * *

><p>Back on the bridge, Rush was waiting, watching the kino footage of his counterpart in the chair.<p>

"Is there any way to mess things up in there from here?" Greer asked.

"If you're asking 'is there any way to kill him and end this while he's sitting there helplessly,' the answer is no. The chair is effectively isolated from the bridge while someone is using it. We can't affect it's systems directly. However, I had a better idea in mind."

"Such as?"

"I'm not going to tip our hand, reveal that we have control of the ship, until he's left the chair. Then I'm going to take control of all systems again, lock the room down, disengage the chair's systems remotely, and cut him off from it. Then I'm going to seal the control interface room, vent it, and then redistribute the atmosphere throughout the ship, sealing sections off, venting them into other sections, and do that with every section of the ship that we have opposition in."

""Young wants prisoners to question." Greer said.

"Well, we've already got two, and they're sitting in the same room as us." Rush pointed out.

"That we do." Greer conceded.

"What? But we told you everything! We sold the others out to you! We defected, and now we're prisoners?" Alternate-Amanda asked incredulously.

"Quite frankly, yes. You attacked us; that makes you and anyone else we take into custody prisoners-of-war. Maybe we'll return you after you've told us everything we want to know." Rush replied.

"You can't honestly expect us to cooperate if you treat us like prisoners after we gave up everything for you!" Alternate-Ginn exclaimed.

"Well, then, I can shoot you both and solve the problem." Greer said simply.

"You wouldn't. Not without reason." Alternate-Amanda said.

"Try me." Greer replied.

"Enough bickering, ladies and gentlemen. Calm down. The situation is under control." Rush said.

* * *

><p>Alternate-Simeon was on his own, heading toward a weapons locker, or at least, what was a weapons locker in their reality. He stopped, having heard what sounded suspiciously like footsteps nearby. He looked around, listened, and finally moved on, figuring that it was just his mind playing tricks on him. He keyed his radio. "Sergeant Riley, is there anyone else in this area?"<p>

"I don't know, sir; we don't have control of the kino feeds yet. I'll have someone secure the kino room and send one your way."

"That won't be necessary, Sergeant. We don't have time to waste. I can handle things on my own."

"Are you sure, sir?"

"Are you questioning me, Sergeant?"

"No, sir. Just clarifying, sir." Alternate-Riley replied.

"Good. Simeon out." he said, then clicked off the radio. He heard a clattering sound, and turned around quickly, then frowned as he saw a kino rolling toward him on the floor. "What the-"

His response was cut off by the gunshot and then his own cry of pain as the bullet grazed his shoulder. "Who's there?" he called, raising his weapon.

"You killed the woman I loved, Simeon. Now I'm killing you." Eli said, his voice coming through the kino, so Simeon couldn't tell where he really was

Alternate-Simeon recognized the voice, which added to his confusion. "What are you talking about, Eli? I never killed Ginn. You stopped me, remember?"

"Maybe in your world!" Eli called back, firing another shot, which ricocheted around Alternate-Simeon. He responded with a burst of gunfire of his own.

"I'm over here, bastard!" Eli taunted, causing Alternate-Simeon to turn around, just in time to get smashed in the face with Eli's pistol. He staggered backward, wiping blood from his cheek, then raised his gun, only to drop it a moment later as Eli's next shot tore through the arm supporting the front of the rifle. He attempted to raise the gun one-handed, but found himself shaking as he did so. Eli's next shot clipped his uninjured arm, making him drop it again. He reached for it, attempting to get it and then shoot Eli, but Eli moved much faster than he anticipated, kicking the gun away, then kicking Simeon in the chest. The Lucian Alliance member grunted, the staggered forward. Eli solved that problem with a shot to Simeon's kneecap. He fell to one knee, grunting in pain as he did so The grunt changed to an involuntar cry as Eli's next bullet entered his stomach.

"You're a sick bastard that deserves to die slowly." Eli said coldly. "Unfortunately, I don't have the time, and I don't intend to give you a chance to take me with you." he said, then raised his gun and aimed it at the Alternate-Simeon's head.

"Please, don't sho-" He barely registered the gunshot before everything went black. Eli smiled, then policed the body, making sure first of all that Simeon was dead. He smiled when he pulled a knife off the corpse. "Looks like I can take a trophy." He murmured, the placed the knife against Simeon's neck. "Later." he said, tucking the knife away. If anyone had heard the gunshots, they'd be heading toward him. And he didn't want to take the chance that they might be unfriendly, especially when they saw their dead crewmate.

He hurried off, intent on getting back to the bridge.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, on the bridge, Alternate-Amanda was at one of the consoles, Greer's weapon trained on her, Rush nearby to keep an eye on what she was doing. He was also pulling real-time records of everything she did at the console and viewing them in the corner of his own. He noticed that she was sending a number of communications to a console in the control interface room, and was about to alert Greer when he noticed the content of the communications and that the initial message had come from the control interface room. He sent her a message.<p>

_"Who are you talking to, Amanda?"_

Her reply came quickly enough. _"Riley. Trying to minimize the death toll."_

_"How do you expect to do that?"_

_"Riley's like Ginn and I; on the fence about our actions, doing them mainly out of fear."_

_"You'd best hurry, then. The information I've managed to gain about activity in the chair room suggests he's almost done. And then I'm moving ahead with my strategy."_

_"Give me another minute."_

_"You have it. No more."_

* * *

><p>Alternate-Rush opened his eyes, and the chair's connectors slid back into their inactive position. The restraints retracted, and he smiled, then walked over to a console and accessed Destiny's internal communications.<p>

"Attention all personnel. This is Doctor Nicholas Rush, from what you would consider an 'alternate universe.' We have taken control of this ship. You will surrender. I am no monster; you will be allowed to evacuate through the Stargate to a habitable planet. I am sorry, but we require the resources this Destiny has available in order to survive. I hope you understand, we have the same mission. Your losses will further that mission. But it will continue. In another world, in another reality, the mission will continue."

To his surprise, another voice replied. "This is also Doctor Rush. I'd recommend you re-check your facts, because the way I see it, I'm on the bridge right now and have just as much control as you do. In fact, I'm locking you out and venting the atmosphere in the chair room and the gateroom . . . now."

"You're bluffing, Rush. You know how important the mission is. We're the best chance of seeing it through."

"No, you aren't. You kill needlessly, you destroy lives, you strand people for no other reason than they have something you want. You're a monster."

"So are you! We're the same person! Everything I've done, you'd do in my position." Alternate-Rush said, feeling the air growing thin. He staggered to the door, and frantically tried to open it.

"Maybe we're identical biologically, but only biologically. Identical twins, not psychological clones. It's over."

The door finally opened, and Rush fought his way against the rush of air, managing to get out and seal the door again. "I'm free." he said. "It's not over. There are still plenty of us left. And I still have the control interface room under my control."

"I wouldn't count on it, Doctor." Sergeant Hunter Riley said.

"What?"

"They've retaken it. They have the bridge, the control interface room, and more people. They've locked down the gate; we can't get support from home." Riley was actually saying this when no such thing had occurred, having been convinced by Alternate-Amanda to give this universe a chance. He'd sent a message to the bridge saying as much.

"What? I'll have your head for this failure, Riley, you incompetent bastard."

"Now venting the corridor you're in, Doctor Rush." Rush said, and Alternate Rush found himself dashing for the corridor exit. He didn't make it, watching as the door slid shut and locked just in front of him. He pounded on it, frantically trying to override the controls.

It was General Young who saved his life and the lives of some of the other alternate personnel.

"I want them alive, Rush! Stop it!"

"Very well, General. Even though we should just kill them and be spared the trouble."

Young spoke. "Anyone from the alternate universe who surrenders will be treated fairly and spared. Anyone who resists will be dealt with accordingly." he said.

It ended fairly quickly after that. The only thing worth noting during the clean-up was that Alternate-Rush committed suicide rather than be captured, as did a few other personnel. In the end, they had ten people who surrendered peacefully, including the alternates of Ginn, Amanda, and Riley.

* * *

><p>The senior Staff found themselves in a room, talking to the captured alternates.<p>

"You are going to be returned to your own reality soon enough, as long as you answer our questions." General Young said.

"No reason to answer, then." Riley said.

"What do you mean? Don't you want to go home?"

"If we go home, sir, and they find out we defected, we'll be killed." he replied.

"Well, what other options do we have."

"Asylum." Alternate-Amanda said.

"What?"

"I request asylum aboard your vessel in this universe, General Young." She said.

"As do I." Ginn replied.

Riley and the others followed suit, asking for asylum. After taking a brief break to consider their request, Young decided to grant it.

"Of course, you will have to be kept under observation and guard for a while, just until I know for sure that you aren't playing us."

"Sounds fair." Riley said.

Young nodded. "Well, then, unless I hear otherwise from Earth once we seal the breach, welcome aboard."

Rush snorted. "It's not that simple, General." he said.

"What are you talking about?" Young asked.

"They're going to try it again, you know. If my . . . alternate's supporters on Destiny are as fanatical as they appear, then they won't let one failed attack stop them."

"You're saying they'll try to come back here?"

"No. Not necessarily. Whoever my alternate counterpart left in charge would be someone who wouldn't give up easily, but also someone who wouldn't be so stupid as to try the same target twice."

"Then what are you saying?"

"They'll continue to attack, pillage, and strand alternate counterparts of us to steal the parts they need from those universes' versions of this expedition. We can't allow that to continue."

"What do you suggest?"

"We know they had a way to go back. So we take a few personnel who have counterparts in their universe, go through, and stop them."

"How?"

"We destroy their version of Destiny."

**_To be continued . . ._**


	9. The Looking Glass War, Part 2

Stargate Universe: Season 3: On The Other Side

Disclaimer: I don't own SGU.

A/N: Please review. Suggestions are more than welcome. Also, I decided to turn this into one really extra-long chapter (8,000+ words) to wrap the current arc up, although the aftermath will still be felt throughout the next few chapters as well. In addition, I would like to use this opportunity to ask for assistance. I currently have a sequel fic for this in the planning stages, and need people who I can bounce ideas off of and use as devil's advocates. People who are well-versed in both Stargate and fanfic-writing are preferred. If you're interested, PM me.

Chapter 9: The Looking-Glass War, Part 2

"What? You can't be suggesting that you just kill everyone, Rush!" Riley exclaimed.

"Relax, sergeant, I never suggested that we just kill everyone." Rush said.

"But you just said-"

"That we need to destroy their _Destiny_, not kill them. The two, while not necessarily mutually exclusive goals, needn't be mutually inclusive, either. Whoever goes over there can set up an overload, lock out the controls afterward, and escape back to our reality through the Stargate, then seal the breach. If we set the overload to take long enough, they'll have plenty of time to evacuate."

"Even if you're telling the truth and don't plan to just kill them all, you'll be hard-pressed to get through security. There's a password that you have to give in order for them to lower the forcefield they've set up around the gate. The password's 'Prometheus.' But, even with that, there are obstacles. Each individual has a subdermal implant, essentially an RFID Friend-Or-Foe tag, that is scanned upon arrival to prove they are who they say they are. The results have to be verified by Kiva, Major James, and Camille."

"Kiva's still alive in your universe?" Rush asked.

"And one of your closest, most powerful supporters and allies. In fact, you could give the Lucian personnel an order, and they'd obey it even if it contradicted one of Kiva's. You run the Lucian Alliance, more so than she does, although you tend to let them run their own affairs, as long as they listen to you when you need them to." Riley said.

"So we just need to extract the implants of everyone going through." Rush replied.

"You're getting ahead of yourself, Rush. What makes you think I'm going to allow this . . . retaliatory strike?" Young said.

"Because you're a good man, General. Because you know that one setback, however major, isn't going to stop them. They'll keep attacking other realities, killing innocent people, unless someone stops them. A few have to suffer for the greater good. And the greater good, in this case, applies not just to a few people, but to hundreds of realities. If we don't stop them, who knows how many more people they'll kill, how many lives they'll ruin? It's for the best, General. You know that." Rush said.

"Let's say I'm convinced. How many people would have to risk their lives for this? I don't want to send more than absolutely necessary."

"Well, I could do it by myself." Rush said.

"No. If you go through the gate alone, that's going to get you caught and probably found out." Alternate-Amanda said. "Three people. All teams coming back from an alternate consist of at least three people. Our Rush's orders. Anyone who comes alone or in pairs is immediately suspect."

"Okay. Three people. Who goes? They have to be people who had counterparts over there that crossed over here. And people who can visibly pass as their counterparts." Young asked.

"I volunteer." Rush said.

"I'll go." Scott said.

"And me." Varro said.

"Well, that settles that. We leave as soon as possible." Rush said.

"Aren't you getting ahead of yourselves again? We need to extract the implants of your counterparts and find a way to get them in you without leaving evidence of recent surgery." Young said.

"How do these implants work? Do they need to be in a particular area?" Rush asked.

"Not necessarily. They broadcast a simple identification pattern that the scanner set up around the gate picks up. Unfortunately, the identification signal also provides life-sign confirmation, which ceases upon death. You'd have to find a way to trick them into reactivating that part of the signal. Theoretically, you could hide it anywhere on your person once you overcome that obstacle, without having to hide it under the skin. We just do it that way as a precaution. They're implanted at the front base of the neck on the left side just above where the clavicle meets the sternum, between the trachea and the carotid." Alternate-Amanda said.

"Eli, you think you can handle reprogramming them?"

"With a bit of help, I think I can. Do the chips have a command and data memory?"

"Yes. If you were to rewrite the memory, erase all memory from the cessation of life-signs and beyond, then loop the stable life-sign readings, you could trick it into believing that it was still receiving life-sign readings." Riley said.

"Greer, get some people and take the bodies of the alternate Rush, Varro, and Scott to the infirmary. TJ, remove the chips. Eli, when TJ removes the chips, get to work." Young ordered.

* * *

><p>Two hours later, Eli reported that he had successfully reprogrammed the implants. Rush, Lieutenant Scott, and Varro geared up to head through, after one final check to see if they could pull off the impersonation.<p>

However, the results were not promising.

"You all look too . . . like you haven't been through hell like the others." Alternate-Ginn said.

"Well, we don't have a make-up artist on board. And without one, I don't think there's much else we can do." Eli said.

Alternate-Amanda seemed lost in thought. Finally, she spoke up. "There is one possibility."

"What?" Young asked.

"I need to take a look at the things you found on Nicholas' corpse." she said. "He always carried a portable neural interface link that allowed him to access Destiny's shipwide neural interface so that he could control what it projected, mainly when he didn't want to be found. He was almost obsessive about it. What we're looking for is a small cylinder, about two inches long and half an inch in diameter. I know how to reprogram it, and I know that it can project images of the crew."

"You didn't volunteer this information before?" Young asked in disbelief.

"I was hoping I wouldn't have to, that the resemblance would be sufficient without it." she replied. "Nick liked his privacy. I was the only other person who knew about it. He may not have been a perfect man, but I loved and respected him. I didn't want to reveal his secrets if I didn't have to."

* * *

><p>After getting the item in question, being briefed on their counterparts' activities, habits, and other details that would be crucial to helping them blend in long enough to get the job done, the trio went for a run through the corridors of the ship, ending with them going through the gate, through the rift, and to a planet on the other side, in an attempt to better sell the story of defeat.<p>

When they reached the planet, they stopped for a moment, then Rush dialed this universe's Destiny and, when the wormhole opened, Kiva's voice came through the radio.

"Identify yourself."

"This is Doctor . . . Rush. Prometheus. Repeat, Prometheus . . . Mission has failed. I . . . repeat, mission has failed."

A pause. "Come on through."

Rush activated the neural interface link, then the trio stepped through. They emerged into the gateroom, and stood still as the gate deactivated behind them and the RFID FOF scanner verified their identities.

When Major James, Kiva, and Camille were convinced, Kiva looked at them. "What happened?"

"I don't know. They found out, somehow, and managed to stop us. The three of us are the only ones who managed to make it back. I don't know about the others, if they're alive or dead. We had to move quickly, once they made their move when they found out. We couldn't spare the time to dial and open the rift, then shut the gate down and dial back here."

Kiva nodded. "I see. Are any of you hurt?"

"Nothing that can't wait." Rush replied.

"Colonel Scott, Doctor Rush, request permission to lead a search-and-rescue team through." Major James said.

"Denied. We can't risk losing anyone else. We need to cut our losses and move forward." Rush said.

"What about your wife, Doctor? She could still be alive over there. They all could."

"We can't risk it. The odds of them being ready for us are far too great."

"But, sir-" Rush cut her off with a wave of his hand.

"No rescue mission Not yet. That's my final word, for now. Log the coordinates of that reality. Maybe we can mount a rescue later, once their guard has been lowered."

"Shall we seal the rift, then?" Kiva asked.

"Leave it open. For now. Maybe they'll return everyone who's still alive once entropic cascade failure begins to set in. They're not merciless. They haven't seen what we've seen, been through all that we have. They'll show mercy, when lives are on the line." Rush said. "If that's everything, everyone who shouldn't be here is dismissed.

The group dispersed at that, but the trio of infiltrators couldn't act yet; they each had duties that the versions of themselves native to this universe wouldn't neglect.

Scott headed to the bridge, to take stock of the situation there. Rush had to confer with Eli and about some data, and Varro was needed in the interrogation room.

* * *

><p>When Varro reached the interrogation room, he waited for them to bring the first prisoner in.<p>

The guards arrived a few moments later, four of them, with the prisoner shacked and bound with chains. Varro couldn't help but stare. She was young, in her mid- to late-twenties. Even bound and shackled, clothed in mere vestiges of her original clothing, she carried herself with dignity and pride, the wounds covering most of her visible flesh adding to Varro's growing impression of her as a woman who he might admire. All that torture, and she was still not broken, still refusing to break, holding onto her dignity, her pride, her identity, with every shred of willpower she had.

He smiled as she was placed in the chair, putting on the act his alternate self would have. He waved the guards off, and then pointed to the kino hovering in one corner.

"Take that thing out of here." he said. "Seal the door from the outside. If anyone tries to unlock it from in here without my verification, vent the atmosphere."

The guards nodded, one of them grabbing the kino and carrying it out as they left. Once the door was sealed, Varro looked at her.

"Here we are again." he said. "Your name is Kendra, correct?"

"You already know that, Varro." she replied coldly.

"Well, Kendra, let's move on, then. You are a Tenaran, picked up with several thousand others when Destiny intercepted the Novan evacuation ships. Most of those who survived the initial battle were killed or exiled after capture to conserve supplies, retaining only those who were of any worth. Of those two hundred left onboard, most have died as a result of refusing to talk, or giving us false information, or just begging for death rather than tell us anything. There are only two left. Yourself, and the Futuran male, Han. I must admit, I do admire your stubbornness. Everything you've been through would have broken many others long ago. Five years of torture, of being fed barely enough to survive, of being abused almost daily, and yet you still hold onto not only life, but your wits, your identity, your will. It's impressive, to say the least."

"What does that have to do with anything?" she asked.

"I think we both know that the torture no longer gets to you, Kendra. You've learned to ignore it, to block the pain, to tolerate it. No matter how bad it gets, you aren't affected. And it's no fun, when you don't even scream anymore, when all you do is carry on like it's an average day."

"Get to the point already."

"I'm not going to torture you. I'm going to make you an offer. Tell me what we want to know, agree to help us, and it ends, and you get to live. Or," he paused, picking up a syringe from the array of tools on the table, then continued, "or, ask me to put an end to this pathetic excuse for a life that you're living."

She stared at him coldly. "Mercy? Are you offering me mercy?" she snorted. "Nice ploy. Too bad it's just that. You wouldn't show me mercy, not after the things you've done to me. That syringe is probably full of something that'll cause pain, but not death."

Varro didn't know why he did what he did next. He leaned in, and, looking into her eyes, spoke. "Are you aware of what has been going on for the past five years?"

"The incursions into other universes, right? I've heard the guards talking."

"Would you believe me if I told you I was from one of those, that this universe's Varro is dead and that I'm here to help stop these people?"

"I'd believe that there's a reason for telling me that."

"What if I offered to take you with when we go back?"

She blinked. Clearly, she hadn't expected him to say that. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, if you stay here, one of two things is going to happen. One, when we take care of the problem, they'll leave you to die on this Destiny. Two, they take you with when they evacuate and your captivity continues. Or you can help us, and we can take you back with us. And Han."

"You're lying." she said.

"No, I'm not. I swear to you, I'm not."

"Let's say you're telling the truth. Why make the offer? Why help us?"

"Because you've survived when so many others have died. Because you're strong, unwavering, unwilling to give in, because that means giving up that last part of your being. Like I said I admire that you've survived as well as you have."

"I can't speak for Han, but I can say that, if you're telling the truth, if this is real, I'm there. I'm behind you. When you make your move, you should know where to find us."

"I do." Varro said. "When we move, I'll pick you two up myself or send someone for you."

"I just have one question, before you go. Who else is with you?"

"Our universe's Matthew Scott and Nicholas Rush. One of them will be there if I can't."

"Thank you." she said, then looked at the torture tools on the table. "Make it look good." she said.

"I don't want to hurt you." Varro said.

"You want to make yourselves convincing, right? This universe's Varro wouldn't hesitate to beat me into a pulp, to cut me open, to rape me, and more, all to get me to talk. You have to at least make it look like you tortured me. Reopen some of the old wounds. Maybe add a few superficial ones, hit me a couple of times. I can take it. If you were informed about me as much as you seem to be, then you know that Han and I were both trained Lucians."

Varro nodded. "So I heard. Following the training of the Lucian Alliance personnel of this Universe's Novus. There were more of them in this universe, because of the failed second incursion, right?"

"Yes. And you know firsthand the kind of training the Lucian Alliance puts their soldiers through. Everything you've done to me is really no worse than what I went through in training."

Varro nodded. "I see." he said, then went to work grimly.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Rush was in the Control Interface Room, going over data with this universe's Eli and Chloe. Rush had to admit that he hadn't really been prepared for Chloe's intellect. In this universe, they hadn't managed to get Chloe fixed by the aliens during the first encounter with the drones, so the mental and physical transformation had continued for some time before their next contact with them, during which she had been treated. However, her mind was spectacularly sharp, academically speaking; she was correcting his work without effort, seeing things he didn't, and generally proving to be an asset. The only downside was that she had to be restrained and under guard at all times; despite her exceptionally advanced intellect, her mental state was less than stable, and she'd been known to attack people for no reason.<p>

Rush presented them with a data chip that he'd uploaded a lot of his universe's Eli's calculations, particularly regarding the solar flare manipulation, onto, saying that he'd managed to get it before their cover had been blown. The way Chloe and Eli's faces lit up, they were having a field day as they analyzed the data, went over the calculations, ran simulations, and, in fact, improved upon them.

"Do you know what this means, Rush?" Eli asked excitedly.

"I do. It means we have a way to increase our supplies significantly without having to attack other realities. With this, all we'd really need to visit other realities for is to trade unique technology and knowledge that we have but they don't, or that they have but we don't. We can turn that predatory relationship into one of mutual benefit. In fact, this is our bargaining chip. The ability to double and redouble existing supply stores . . . that's extremely valuable. Every time supplies get low or we need a replacement part, duplicate the ship. The first thing we could do is duplicate the ship to salvage the most efficient FTL drive units. Use the additional repair bots to get the work done that much faster. Hell, duplicate it enough, and you could replace every drive unit with the single most efficient drive in the bunch. You could get the weapons conduits, power relays. We could get the ship up to a significantly higher standard. Then you duplicate that one, split the crew, and you have two of them.

"Couple that with the dimensional bridge technology, and you have an irresistible trade package. We could trade it to every Destiny expedition we cross paths with in exchange for some of their technologies. They could do the same, and we could help an infinite number of Destiny expeditions across an infinite number of realities. "

Eli nodded, the look of surprise on his face evidence enough that he hadn't thought on anywhere near that kind of scale. "You've had a lot of time to think about this, haven't you?"

"I've had enough. Enough to know that this is a better way than how we've been doing it. I saw the possibilities the moment their Eli showed it to me." Rush replied. If Scott or Varro were to ask him why he was doing this, if they ever found out, he'd have to answer truthfully: he was hoping to find a way that they wouldn't have to destroy this Destiny, that they could help the expedition here stop without having to likely condemn them to death. Just because they'd thrived once didn't mean they'd thrive again.

"Why the sudden change, Rush? You're not the type to admit to being wrong about something." Chloe asked.

Rush sighed. "My reasons are my own. I've come to see possibilities that weren't available to me, to us, before. Possibilities that are more . . . ethical."

"You? Ethical? You stranded us here because you didn't want to see all that work wasted! You're a selfish bastard, Rush. Ethics aren't your strong point. The real reason. Now. Or I turn this room into a vacuum." Eli threatened.

Rush could tell Eli was serious. He sighed. "Isn't that a bit overdramatic? I'm not acting like myself, so you threaten to kill me, yourself, and innocent bystanders?"

"Yes."

Rush looked at the guards. "Go. Leave one of your sidearms. I'll keep Chloe in check."

They left, and Rush deactivated the room's kino, then started talking.

* * *

><p>After Varro had finished up on Kendra, he escorted her to the infirmary so that TJ could patch her up. After all, there was no point in torturing someone if you just let them die. After she was patched up and taken back to confinement, Varro lingered with TJ. There wasn't much for her to do; the infirmary was empty. Nonetheless, she was on duty, and until her shift was ver, she wasn't supposed to leave. They talked, Varro detailing what had gone wrong, according to their cover story.<p>

After hearing him out, TJ smiled, then leaned in and put her hand on his thigh. "Well, maybe after I get off-duty here, we can relax in our quarters." she murmured into his ear, her hand sliding up his thigh and to the outside edge of it. As it did so, a confused look crossed her face, and she backed off.

"Is everything okay?" Varro asked.

TJ nodded. "Fine. Just fine. Just remembered something disturbing, that's all." she said, then went over to a Kino and looked at it. "Doctor-patient confidentiality." she said, then reached for the remote and shut the Kino off. She locked the door, and turned to him, picking up a scalpel as she approached him.

"Tamara, what are you doing?"

"Well, let's see: I know every detail of my husband's body as well as I know my own. And he has a gouge on his leg where a few of Greer's last bullets tore it up. A gouge that you don't have. You're not Varro. Not my Varro, at least. I guess I'm asking you questions."

Varro sighed, recognizing that she'd seen through his cover. "How do I know you're not going to tell Rush everything?"

"Because there's no way you could have infiltrated Rush's ranks. I'm betting that all of you are from the same universe."

"And how do I know you won't tell someone from this universe?"

"Because I hate the rest of the Lucian Alliance personnel, and everyone else Rush has in the command structure."

Varro nodded. "Ask away."

"What happened to him?"

"He was killed in the assault."

TJ nodded. "I see. And the rest of the team?"

"Some dead, some alive. None of them are coming back, though."

TJ sniffled. "Why not? Why aren't any of them coming back?"

"Their own choices. They knew that, if they came back and it was discovered that they had helped us, the punishment could and would be severe if Rush's supporters were still in control."

TJ couldn't help but agree. "I've seen some of the things they do to people who go against them. I've treated those wounds, when treating them is possible. Next question: why are you here?"

"To stop this whole thing. To end the incursions by destroying this Destiny and all the equipment you need to cross universes. We plan to give you plenty of time to evacuate. We just won't let you hurt anyone else."

TJ nodded grimly. "I understand. If we stood a chance, those of us who are still opposed to the way things are would do something. But we don't stand a chance. Even if word breaks that Rush is dead, his supporters will still stand by his decisions, and they'll still have access to all the weapons. Hell, they might even escape to another reality, take over, and begin anew." she said. "If you do go ahead with this, I want to help, in any way I can. But I want something in return."

"What?"

"I want to kill Dannic myself."

"Why?"

"Let me show you something. I go off-duty in a couple of hours. Meet me here then, and I'll take you to see the reason why that bastard's mine." she said.

* * *

><p>About an hour later, Scott, Varro, and Rush gathered in the Control Interface Room to go over the plan again. When Varro informed them that TJ was on their side and that he'd gotten two additional supporters, Rush stared at him incredulously.<p>

"You don't understand the meaning of 'covert infiltration,' do you?"

"I know it wasn't by the book, but Kendra seemed like she could use the hope, and TJ figured it out on her own."

"Very well. As long as they keep their mouths shut, I think we can proceed. However, we need to make some changes to the plan. First, I want to get all the knowledge we can from here. Tomorrow morning, we make our move. Varro, bring TJ, Kendra, and Han. In the meantime, have TJ ask around and find out who would support a change in leadership."

"I thought we were destroying the ship. Why would there be a change in leadership?"

"Because there may be another way. If we just make it seem like the ship is going to be destroyed, that should be enough to trigger an evacuation. If we have people who are more ethical, who are more open to reason, involved, they can remain onboard, halt the overload, and move on with the mission. I've already found two supporters, in addition to TJ and the prisoners."

"So the pot called the kettle black." Scott said dryly.

"Perhaps I did. I'm as entitled to feeling sympathy towards the plight here as anyone else."

"So, let me get this straight. The revised plan is to fake an emergency that gets them to bug out of here, just like you did to Telford and the others, back when they wanted to dial from inside a star the first time?"

"Exactly. Plus, with the information I've given Chloe and Eli, I think everyone who stays will have a good chance of having an easier time."

* * *

><p>When Varro joined TJ at the infirmary, she took him down to one of the stasis halls, with Rush supposedly acting as their guard. When they reached it, Rush turned off the kino there, and the trio walked over to the active pod.<p>

When Varro and Rush saw the baby inside, the were startled.

"Is that . . ." Rush trailed off.

"Mine and Everett's daughter. Carmen Faith Johansen-Young. She's how our Rush ensured my cooperation. I'm allowed very little access to her. She should be five years old; she's about three months right now. If I don't do what they say, they hurt her. That cast on her arm, that's because Dannic broke it when I couldn't save one of his men. I did everything I could, but he didn't believe that."

She turned to them. "I love that girl more than anything. I want your guarantee that you'll make sure nothing happens to her, that you'll do everything you can to keep her safe."

"I promise." Varro said.

"As do I. But, if all goes well, you'll be able to raise her yourself." Rush said.

"I know. But I don't want to take chances. If something goes wrong, I need to know that she's safe, that she'll be taken care of."

"She will be." Varro stated.

"Thank you." TJ said.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Rush had everyone who was willing to help out with the scheme gathered in the gateroom. The numbers were less than satisfying; only about thirty people had gathered. Rush was proud to see that most of them were members of the original expedition.<p>

After going over the plan, taking suggestions on how it could be improved, and allotting tasks according to talents, the group would head to the armory to get weapons. They'd split up after that; Varro would take a few people and free Han and Kendra, Eli would take his group to the engine room and set things up to make it look like an unstoppable overload was in motion, Rush would go for the bridge with Scott and his team, Brody and his team would remain in the gateroom, and TJ, Chloe, and the remainder would provide a distraction to lure Dannic and the other guards away from the sensitive areas they needed access to.

Once Scott's group got the additional weapons, they would distribute those to the rest of the teams, who would then go about their tasks. half would rendezvous with Rush on the bridge, after which he would order a complete evacuate upon hearing from Eli that a catastrophic overload had somehow been initiated. Once the situation was under control, Scott, Rush, Varro, Han, and Kendra would head for the gateroom, where they would leave.

Unbeknownst to them, a single hidden kino in the air vents was feeding all the events of this meeting to Kiva in the CIR. She smirked, then picked up her radio and switched it to a channel that all the Lucian personnel used for their private communications. She quickly devised a counter-plan, seeing this as her chance to seize the ship completely.

* * *

><p>When the group neared the armory, Varro found himself uneasy. Too few personnel were wandering about. When Varro rounded the corner that would lead them straight to it, he noticed several times the normal guard near the armory. They were talking amongst themselves. Varro took a step forward, and when the guards turned toward the sound, the first thing Varro noticed was that their weapons were raised.<p>

"Halt!"

"What's the problem, people?" Varro asked.

"We've got our orders. No one goes in."

Rush spoke. "And who's orders would those be?"

"Kiva's."

"Well, I'm countermanding them. Lower your weapons, let us in, and go about your business as usual." Rush said.

"I can't do that, sir."

"Why the devil not?"

The burst of gunfire answered that question. Varro narrowly avoided being shot, and ducked back behind the wall. Fortunately, he had his weapon, and he dropped to one knee, peered around the corner, and managed to get off a burst that two of the guards took in the chest before they fired back. It was Scott who got the next shot, firing a burst that took one of the four remaining in the head and dropped him, putting a couple in the shoulder of four. Varro shot again, and guard four dropped.

"Move!" Rush said. "We have to assume the plan's been compromised! Grab everything you can. Eli, take your group, get to the engine room. If you can, get inside and seal it off. Set the overload. Scott, your team goes with him. Get him there, take out the opposition along the way. Try to clear the corridors. Same with everyone else. We need to try to get to the gateroom."

"Doctor Rush, with all due respect, I plan to get to the brig and rescue Kendra and Han. I'll go by myself if I have to." Varro said.

"We can't risk that." Rush said

"I don't see what we'll lose. We've got all the weapons we need. Besides, I'm just one person. The expedition will survive without me. But I'm not going to break that promise. I told them I'd get them, and I intend to carry through with that promise."

Rush sighed. "Very well. If we're lucky, they won't anticipate that we survived, so the other areas may not be guarded as well. Anyone who wants to accompany Varro on that, go ahead."

TJ and a few others grouped with Varro at that, and after everyone was armed, the group split up on their separate paths. Three teams left. It was only a question of how many would make it where they were going.

Varro's group headed for the makeshift brig, and it was a simple matter to deal with the guards; one well-aimed grenade took them out. He entered the corridor, opened the doors, then unlocked Han and Kendra's restraints, and gave each of them back their personal affects, which had been stored in the armory.

Kendra smiled. "Thank you for coming." she said, unsheathing her knife and admiring the blade. "It's been too long." she said, then looked at Varro. "What's the situation?"

"Bad. Our cover's blown. We're going to have to fight our way out. You can stay here, if you like; we're trying to change the status quo, get the good guys in charge."

"I'd rather take my chances with you."

Han nodded as well. "Let's go."

* * *

><p>Eli's team managed to make it to the engine room without too much trouble, if one considered lobbing grenades and shooting a few people who opposed them to not be much trouble. Once there, they locked the doors and went to the controls. Eli managed to get everything set up on their end, isolating control of the power systems, along with pretty much everything else, using a command program his universe's Rush had written ages ago to even seal the bridge off from control of the ship. The idea was simple; disable the Ancient equivalent of Destiny's fuse box, and then set the fusion reactor to go into overdrive. It would eventually generate too much power, which would cause an explosion that could easily tear the ship apart. It would look like it couldn't be stopped, but with appropriate control of the system, they could shut it down easily once everyone else was off the ship.<p>

After he set it up, he tapped into internal communications and every console on the ship, using them to transmit warning of the overload, which would occur in fifteen minutes. Accessing the Kino video feeds, locking access to those out of all the other consoles as well so as to render Kiva blind, he observed the situation. Some were trying to gather what supplies they could before they needed to get off the ship. He sealed most of the supply rooms off, locking them until such time as he chose to unlock them. Thankfully, the unlocking devices the Lucian Alliance had brought with them were secured in one of those very rooms.

Others were trying to force their way into the engine room. The members of Eli's team that were armed had taken up defensive positions around the door in case the opposition managed to break through.

Eli switched over to Brody's group, which had taken refuge in a room near the gateroom to avoid being summarily executed for their part in the events going on. They'd sealed themselves in that room.

Eli then checked on Rush's team, fighting their way to the gateroom. He had to admire Rush's tenacity; the older scientist wasn't hesitating to shoot anyone who raised a weapon against them. He could tell that Rush's sole intention was to get to the gateroom and get back to his universe; the man, no matter which universe, seemed to be a self-centered egomaniac intent on his own survival or objects, and damn everyone else.

A quick run-through of the other kinos on the ship, and he took note of the situation Varro and company were in. They were more or less pinned down in a corridor. And then Eli realized that they were only pinned down because that was where they wanted to be; TJ had ducked into a room near the corner they were trapped behind. They weren't pinned down; they were holding the position. When TJ emerged, she was carrying a device about the size of a five-gallon bucket.

"The backup memory core." he said.

* * *

><p>TJ looked at Varro when she emerged from the room carrying the memory core. "I got it. Now, let's get out of here." she said.<p>

"That's going to be a little difficult." Varro said. "Their reinforcements got here. I doubt we can take them all."

Kendra peeked her head around the corner, then ducked back. "Cover me; I'll get you guys an opening."

"You'll be killed!"

"Not if I have my way." she said, pulling her knife out of its sheath with a pistol in her other hand. Before Varro could try to talk her out of it, she charged out into the corridor. Varro sighed, then leaned out and started providing covering fire. Kendra let the knife fly, throwing it with incredible accuracy right between the eyes of one of their assailants, and her pistol managed to pick off two others. Amid the surprise they felt at this one woman's bold move, the opposition fell fairly easily, only managing to get a few shots in before she was too close for comfort, most of which missed, although a few grazed her.

As she reached the closest body, she yanked her knife out of the man's head without breaking stride, then stabbed it into the chest of the nearest assailant, putting a round into his head for good measure. The last man dropped his gun and charged at her, clearly looking forward to a good physical fight. He didn't get it; with one blow, she crushed his windpipe, then grabbed his head and twisted, snapping his neck. She glanced back at the others.

"What are you waiting for? Let's go!" she said.

The team advanced, moving through the corridors until they found themselves behind a group of Kiva's followers. Unfortunately, just as Varro squeezed off a burst, the enemy group rounded a corner, and the element of surprise was lost.

When the others peeked around the corner to take shots at them, TJ scowled. She set the memory core down, yanked Varro's rifle out of his hands, and charged. She fired a short burst as she rounded the corner that took out two of the three, and then staggered backward as a retaliatory strike caught her in the stomach. She dropped to her knees, but still managed to get a shot off. Varro witnessed Dannic fall forward, wounded, but still alive. He ran forward to help TJ, but she warded him off with one hand.

She crawled forward to Dannic, dropping the rifle in exchange for a handgun. Dannic moved to pick his up, but she shot his hand. One arm clutching her stomach, the other clutching the gun, she placed it under his chin. Dannic moved weakly, trying to stop her, but he was too badly injured.

"This is for what you did to Carmen, you bastard." She said, firing three shots in quick succession. Dannic fell limp, and TJ rolled herself to rest against a wall. She gazed at Varro. "Get Carmen." she said weakly.

"Hang in there, TJ, you're gonna make it." Varro said, kneeling next to her.

"No, I'm not. Three, four rounds in the stomach . . ." she trailed off. "I don't have long. Get Carmen, take her back, make sure she's safe." she said, reaching out and taking Varro's hand. "Please."

"I will." Varro promised, and he couldn't help the tears blurring his vision.

"Good. Now, please, get going." she said.

Varro stood up, looked at the others. "Let's go." he said, then touched the radio. "Eli, come in."

"Eli here. Go ahead." His voice was choked up, indicating that he'd seen what had happened.

"What's the path to the stasis hall from here look like?"

"One second." Eli said. A moment later, he spoke again. "Clear enough. Nearly everyone's clustering in the general vicinity of the gateroom. Go get Carmen. Also, the gate's active, and it looks like they've given up on doing anything but evacuating."

"Good."

Han picked up the memory core, and the team headed for the stasis halls It was relatively easy for them to get to the stasis hall. When Varro deactivated the stasis pod containing Carmen, he noticed that the baby was asleep. He picked her up gently. "Eli, let me know when it's clear for us to go to the gateroom." he said into his radio.

"Will do." he said.

* * *

><p>Rush and his team, meanwhile, had received the same news regarding the winding-down of combat in favor of evacuation, and decided to hole up with his team in a room for a while.<p>

* * *

><p>Once the last of the opposing forces had left, Eli shut down the overload. "All clear!" he called.<p>

It was a somber meeting when the survivors gathered in the gateroom. They'd lost almost a third of their number during the effort to take the ship back.

Rush looked at Eli. "Well, I guess this is the part where I wish you all luck on your journey." he said.

"I guess it is." Eli replied.

"I'm terribly sorry for all this trouble, you know."

"Rush, stop lying."

"I'm not lying. I wish things had gone more smoothly. I should have stuck to the original plan."

"Rush, you gave us a second chance. You gave us our freedom. And that always comes with a price." Eli said.

"I see." Rush said.

"Just be sure to send the others back through once they've learned what they can, and once they've taught you what they can. And thanks, for telling us about some of the things that might be up ahead. That heads-up about the Ori maybe being out here, that technology that might give us a chance to get in touch with Earth, to go back there..."

Rush nodded. "It's the least I could do."

Brody dialed up the gate, and Rush, Varro, Scott, Kendra, and Han lined up. Varro was holding Carmen, Kendra held the memory core, and Rush thumbed his radio. "Destiny, this is Rush. We're coming through. We're going to need TJ waiting for us, because we have wounded. And, General Young, there are some things you'll want to see for yourself."

"Copy that. Come on through whenever you're ready."

The team moved through the gate one at a time. Rush went last. He glanced over at Eli. "We'll be seeing you around, then."

"We will."

"Good luck."

"You, too."

With that, Rush stepped through the gate.

* * *

><p>When he emerged on the other side, he noticed that Greer and the rest of the defense team had their weapons raised at Kendra and Han. Lieutenant Scott was explaining their presence. Rush caught the tail end of that.<p>

"-endlies. They're with us. They helped us get away, and we promised them safety here."

Greer lowered his weapon. "Okay. I can understand that." he said.

General Young and TJ entered the room at the same time. Their eyes settled on Kendra and Han first, and TJ's eyes widened when she saw the state they were in. She went over to check them out.

"Who are they?" Young asked.

"General, sir, I'd like to introduce you to the three newest members of our crew. This is Kendra, Han, and Carmen." he said, motioning to them in turn. Kendra noticed TJ's expression shift to one of uncertainty when she heard the name 'Carmen.'

Young frowned when he saw that Scott's last gesture was toward Varro. "That bundle's alive?"

"Well, sir, that 'bundle' is, to put it bluntly, your daughter." Scott said as Varro turned, revealing the sleeping baby's face.

General Young and TJ's looks were priceless.

TJ was the first to react. "She should be older. She should be five." she said.

"She was kept in stasis, used to keep the other you under control. The cast on her arm is because that universe's Dannic broke it.

"Did you kidnap her or something?" Young asked

"Long story short, it was her mother's last wish that we keep her safe." Varro said.

"So, I'm dead over there?" TJ asked.

"Yes. But you died fighting, helping us do what was right."

"Well, this seems like a complicated story. So, why don't you all join me in one of the conference rooms after TJ's treated all your wounds."

"Aren't you guys forgetting something?" Eli said.

"What?"

"You're going to have to put Carmen in stasis for a few weeks."

"Why?" TJ asked.

"She's an infant, right? We don't have formula, and last I checked, no one on this ship was lactating. So, until we either develop formula, or someone starts lactating, we can't feed her." Eli said.

"Unbelievable. Why didn't we think about that sooner?" Rush said, clearly surprised by Eli's observation of a fact they'd all overlooked.

"Okay. I'll put her in stasis. Everyone who needs to, get down to the infirmary." Young said, taking the infant girl in his arms and walking out.

The next hour was fairly busy. Eli hooked up the memory core to Destiny, revealing that it contained the full Tenaran and Futuran archives, along with all the information the other universe's Destiny had. He began browsing the database, looking for one thing in particular. Meanwhile, Brody, with assistance from Alternate-Ginn and Alternate-Amanda, sealed the rift on their side. For now, at least; there were other black holes, other chances to send them back. For the time being, however, it had been decided that the Alternates who had chosen asylum before events had turned out differently would remain in this universe, for the mutual benefit of both, to exchange knowledge about some of the things this universe had that theirs didn't, and vice-versa.

* * *

><p>While the group that had gone over and the two Novan survivors they'd brought back were being debriefed by General Young, Greer was on the observation deck, staring out into space. They'd jumped to FTL when the effects from the rift faded, so he was watching the almost fluid-like streams of light was over Destiny's hull. He noticed the Alternate-Amanda enter and walk up beside him.<p>

"So, Sergeant, enjoying the view?"

"Trying to. Just have a lot on my mind."

"Such as?"

"What was I like, over there? And what really happened to me? You lied about some details, and I want to know what really happened to me."

She sighed. "You were a good man. Loyal to the end. Not fearless, but unwilling to let the fear you did feel paralyze you. When Nick made his move and the coup went down, you were captured along with a few others. When Nick executed Colonel Young as an example, you snapped. You were in the lineup he was going to work his way down, the people who he couldn't let live. You managed to break free of the guards restraining you, grabbed one of their weapons, and emptied the magazine into a number of people before they incapacitated you. You put up a fight, and the kino broadcasting the scene to all consoles in the ship and over internal communications, sending it to everyone. You screamed, 'I'm going to kill you, Rush, you son of a bitch! You're a dead man! You hear me? Dead! Send me to hell if you want! I'll have the welcoming committee ready for you! Long live Colonel Young!' Needless to say, it was hard for Nick to execute you after that. He'd turn you into a martyr. So he executed Doctor Park in front of you, made it clear that anyone playing 'hero' would just get more people killed. Then he planned to execute you. He gave you the courtesy of last words. but he taunted you, said that Lisa was dead because of you. You stared into his eyes, into the eyes of everyone in that room on his side, and you told them, plain and simple, 'I didn't kill her. You did. My conscience is clean. Is yours?' And then Rush executed you."

Greer nodded. "I see. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Greer stared out the observation deck window as she left and smiled.

* * *

><p>Young met TJ in one of the stasis halls, standing in front of the stasis pod holding their daughter from another universe.<p>

"After we lost her, after it turned out that she hadn't been rescued, Vanessa talked to me, said she'd heard about there being alternate universes out there, alternate realities where things were different. I hoped that, in at least some of them, Carmen's alternate was okay, that alternate versions of me got to hold our child, raise her. I never thought I'd get that chance. I never thought one of those alternate versions would end up here."

Young nodded. "I know." he said. "I'm really glad she's here, though. Now we get that chance."

She smiled. "You're going to be a great father." she said.

"And you're going to be an incredible mother." Young replied.

"I just . . . I'm worried I'm going to wake up, that this is going to be a dream and when I wake up, we won't have her here." She said.

Young nodded. "So am I. But I know it isn't."

"How?"

"Because I have to believe it isn't. Because I know, if this just a dream, and I wake up, I know I wouldn't be able to handle that. Besides, elements of dreams don't often wonder if they're the ones dreaming."

She smiled lightly. "I guess so." she said.

"I know how to make sure it's not a dream, though. Once and for all."

"How?"

Young didn't care that he was breaking regulations; he'd broken them before. He pulled TJ close, took her face in his hands, and brought their lips together. He felt her resist at first, then give in, her arms wrapping around him as his slid down to wrap around her. She returned the kiss, her lips pushing back against his.

When they separated, they were both blushing. "So, I guess it's not a dream." TJ said.

"It isn't." Young agreed.

"So, what now, sir?" TJ said after a few moments of awkward silence.

"I don't know." Young said. "Let's just see how things go from here. Take it one day at a time, and don't worry too much."

TJ nodded. "Agreed, sir." she said.

* * *

><p>AN: And so ends this particular arc. I've had a lot of fun writing it, and I hope you've had at least as much fun reading it. Also, just because Young and TJ kissed, that does not mean I'm going to have them end up together. I'm still deciding on that. Also, don't worry; it shouldn't be too long before the next update. My schedule is pretty free for the time being, and the muse is coming back to me, so I should be able to get more chapters out more easily. Maybe I'll manage one a month or more. Hopefully more. But no guarantees, okay?


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: The Wrap-up

A/N: So, I hate to do this, but, due to circumstances in real life, mainly personal issues as well as trying to work on my new fanfic project, The Stargate Initiative, which is proving to be a more massive undertaking than previously anticipated, I've decided to end this story. I'm not just going to stop it dead, though. This chapter is going to be a run-down of what would have happened in the story.

Here you go:

* * *

><p>1. The ALS plot: TJ gets cured.<p>

2. The Wormhole technology: The origin for the wormhole technology was going to be a big-ass facility built around a contained black hole for power, built by the Obelisk builders and essentially intended to be used to facilitate remote probe exploration of the universe. Earth would have set up a base there, and used the technology to resupply Destiny with resources and personnel on a regular basis. Using modified transporters, entire ships could be dematerialized and sent through, which the Lucian Alliance would then have attempted to use by forcing open one of the wormhole remnants in the Milky Way to get a fleet to Destiny. This would fail, resulting in the capture of a number of Lucian Alliance personnel and the destruction of the wormhole generator facility toward the very end of On The Other Side.

3. The Ori deal: They would have met up with the rogue Ori, who would then use the wormhole generator to go to the Milky Way and lend their services against the Replicators.

4. Following up on the Looking Glass arc: It would be learned that the alternate Destiny from the Looking Glass arc was destroyed, resulting in the permanent stranding of the survivors in this universe.

5. Rush and Eli independently plot to murder the consciousnesses of their respective dead love interests to transfer the personality of their native universe version into the body. Accidents would lead to this only being performed on Amanda. Alternate-Ginn would later be killed, and a cloned body made to transfer the prime-universe version into.

6. The Replicator war: They'd get defeated eventually.

7. The future: The initial plan I had for the finale of On The Other side would be a backdoor pilot for a sequel fic series. Basically, the main cast would get sent forward a few thousand years into the future and run into their descendants, still on Destiny, still following the path and trying to unravel the mystery. This particular time-travel incident would utilize the stable time loop mechanics used in the SG-1 episode '1969,' having always been supposed to happen. They would get back to their home time, of course. The finale would be used predominantly to establish the characters, setting, culture, tech base, and all the other details that would have been involved in the sequel fic, which would have been called Children of Destiny and which I was actually developing well before Season 2 of SGU aired.

8: The Pairings: Complicated. The only ones I was actually certain of were TJ/Young and Rush/Amanda. The others could have gone any number of ways.

Bonus facts:

1. I had Eli kill Rush during their confrontation at the beginning of this story in the original draft.

2. I did the Looking Glass arc because I felt that Ripple Effect from SG-1 didn't handle the situation as well as it could have. I felt it presented the alternate version as too solidly evil, and therefore the alternates were flat characters. And because I wanted to bring dead characters back.

3. I really do feel bad for dropping this story. Tell you what: if anyone feels like they could continue it, get in touch with me, and we can talk about the possibilities. I'd act strictly in an advisory role, to make sure that things don't get too far off the rails I'd intended. You'd get to handle all the writing and would have some freedom with how the events actually play out.


End file.
